NEW  LI  GMT 
ANCIENT 


G-MASPB 


NEW     LIGHT     ON 
ANCIENT  EGYPT 


THE   COVER  OF   ONE   OF  THE   BIG   COFFINS   IN    DAVIS'S  TOMB. 


Frontispiece. 


NEW    LIGHT    ON 
ANCIENT   EGYPT 


BY 

G.    MASPERO 

MEMBER    OF    THE    INSTITUTE,    PROFESSOR   AT   THE   COLLEGE   DE    FRANCE, 
DIRECTOR-GENERAL    OF    THE    SERVICE    DES    ANTIOJJITES,   CAIRO 


TRANSLATED   FROM   THE   FRENCH 
BY 

ELIZABETH    LEE 


NEW  YORK 
D.   APPLETON   AND   COMPANY 


First  Edition,  1908 
Second  Edition,  1909 


[All  rights  reserved] 


THE  GETTY  CENTER 
LIBRARY 


AUTHOR'S   NOTE 

I  HAVE  been  trying  for  about  fifteen  years  to  bring 
a  science  supposed  to  be  only  comprehensible  to  ex- 
perts within  the  reach  of  ordinary  men,  and  it  would 
be  gratifying  to  find  that  I  have  not  wasted  my  time, 
and  that  through  my  efforts,  some  portion  of  the 
general  public  have  become  interested  in  it.  I  have 
drawn  my  material  from  everything  that  can  be  dis- 
cussed with  educated  people  without  demanding  any- 
thing more  than  a  little  attention  :  excavations,  religion, 
travels,  popular  customs,  literature,  history,  have  each 
and  all  furnished  me  with  subjects.  The  result  is  a 
"  living  picture  "  of  the  researches  made  in  the  domain 
of  Egyptology  during  a  period  of  fifteen  years.  I  have 
faithfully  stated  the  opinions  of  others,  and  have  more 
freely  expressed  my  own  opinions  than  I  imagined  I 
had,  before  re-reading  the  sheets.  Recent  discoveries 
have  proved  some  of  them  to  be  true,  others  are  still 
doubtful.  In  the  groundwork  of  the  essays,  however,  I 
have  made  no  changes,  beyond  a  few  modifications  in 
the  style  and  manner  of  expression. 


NOTE  ON   THE  SPELLING  OF  THE 
EGYPTIAN   NAMES 

( Written  specially  for  the  English  edition) 

THE  transcriptions  of  the  Egyptian  names  in  this  volume  differ  so 
materially  from  those  in  general  use  in  England  that  a  word  of 
explanation  in  regard  to  them  seems  advisable.  For  such  barbarous 
pronunciations  as  Thoutmes,  Ahmes,  Rausorma,  I  have  substituted 
Thoutm6sis,  Ahmosis,  Ousimare's,  a  vocalization  nearer  that  of  the 
ancient  pronunciation.  Some  of  the  vowel  sounds,1  like  those  of  the 
three  names  just  quoted,  are  derived  from  the  Greeks,  or  from  the 
Egyptians  of  the  Grasco-  Roman  period  ;  others  are  deduced  by 
analogy  with  Greek  transcriptions  from  forms  the  exact  transliteration 
of  which  has  not  been  preserved  for  us  by  the  ancients.  The  reader 
will  easily  recognize  the  former  in  those  where  I  have  kept  the  Greek 
or  Latin  terminations  es,  os,  or  us,  is,  ous;  where  those  terminations  are 
wanting,  the  form  is  deduced  by  analogy,  or  determined  in  accordance 
with  the  rules  of  grammar.  Thus  Amenothes  (Amenhotep),  Khamois 
(Kha-em-uas),  Harmakhis  (Hor-em-Khou)  are  pronunciations  justified 
by  the  Greek  renderings  ;  Amenemhait  (Amenemhat),  Hatshopsouitou 
(Hatasou,  Hashepsou)  are  grammatical  deductions.  Many  points  are 
still  doubtful,  and  some  of  the  vowel  sounds  will  have  to  be  modified 
in  the  future  ;  but  they  have  at  least  the  merit  of  testifying  to  an  effort 
towards  the  truth,  and  of  undeceiving  the  public  who,  on  the  faith  of 
the  Egyptologists,  accept  as  legitimate,  pronunciations  which  would 
have  been  considered  monstrous  by  the  Egyptians  themselves. 

An  error  is  easily  corrected  when  it  first  arises,  but  if  it  is  allowed 
to  persist  it  is  an  exceedingly  difficult  matter  to  eradicate  it.  No 
better  proof  can  be  given  than  the  persistence  of  the  form  Hatasou  for 
the  name  of  the  great  queen  who  shared  the  throne  of  the  Pharaohs 
with  Thoutmosis  III.  For  the  sake  of  uniformity,  I  have  adopted  the 
orthography  and  vocalization  of  the  Graeco- Roman  period,  in  the  same 
way  as  in  France  we  use  the  French  forms,  Clovis,  Clotaire,  Thierry, 
for  the  Merovingian  kings  in  order  not  to  introduce  very  dissimilar 
words  into  our  history  books.  We  must,  however,  remember  that  the 
vocalization  and  pronunciation  of  names  do  not  remain  unchanged 

1  They  should  be  pronounced  as  in  French. 
vii 


viii  NOTE 

during  the  course  of  history.  Not  to  mention  dialect  forms  which 
would  be  too  difficult  to  determine,  1  established  a  long  while  ago, 
partly  by  means  of  the  Assyrian  transcriptions,  that  many  names  of 
which  the  tonic  syllable  is  vocalized  in  0,  Su,  in  the  Greek  period,  have 
the  same  syllable  vocalized  in  a  under  the  second  Theban  empire,  in 
the  vernacular  of  the  age  of  the  Ramses  :  the  Amenothes,  /.  e.  the 
Amenhotpe  of  Manethon  is  Amanhatpe  in  the  inscriptions  of  El- 
Amarna.  The  recent  discovery  of  Hittite  archives  confirms  that 
fact,  for  they  give  among  others,  for  the  Ramses  Meiamoun  Ousimares 
of  the  Ptolemaic  age,  a  Ouashmariya  Riamasha  Maiamanou,  which 
corresponds  with  an  Egyptian  pronunciation  Ouasimariya  Riamasa(ou) 
Maiamanou.  But  I  did  not  think  it  advisable  to  introduce  those 
variants  into  a  book  intended  for  the  general  public. 


CONTENTS 


I.      THE     DIPLOMATIC     ARCHIVES     OF     EL-AMARNA     IN 
THE     FOURTEENTH     CENTURY     B.C. — SUSA    AND 

THE    DIEULAFOYS I 

II.       THE  OLDEST  KNOWN  EXPLORERS  OF  THE  AFRICAN 

DESERT      .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  12 

III.  THE   TOMBS   OF   THEBES 22 

IV.  NAVILLE   AND    BUBASTIS            .....  33 
V.      SYRIA     FROM     THE     EIGHTEENTH    TO    THE     FOUR- 
TEENTH   CENTURY    B.C.    AS    IT    APPEARS    IN   THE 
EGYPTIAN    MONUMENTS 42 

VI.      EGYPT   AND   THE   ELEUSINIAN    MYSTERIES         .  .  53 

VII.      A    FORGOTTEN   CAPITAL   OF   PHARAONIC   EGYPT          .  63 

VIII.      THE   TEMPLE   OF   DEiR    EL-BAHARf  .  .  .  75 

IX.      A      TRILINGUAL     INSCRIPTION     IN     PRAISE     OF     C. 

CORNELIUS   CALLUS,  PREFECT   OF   EGYPT      .  .  84 

X.       ON    AN     EGYPTIAN-    MONUMENT     CONTAINING    THE 

NAME   OF    ISRAEL        ....  .91 

XI.      COPTOS  ........  97 

XII.      THE   TOMB   OF   ANTINOUS   AT   ROME          .  .  .103 

XIII.  A  PHILOSOPHICAL  DIALOGUE  BETWEEN  AN  EGYPTIAN 

AND   HIS   SOUL 109 

XIV.  AN     EGYPTIAN     BOOK     OF     MAGIC     OF     THE     FIRST 

CENTURY   A.D.    .  .  .  .  .  .  .          Il6 

XV.      ARCHAIC   EGYPT 122 

XVI.      EGYPTIAN    BELIEF   IN   LUCKY   AND   UNLUCKY    DAYS  128 

XVII.      THE   EGYPTIAN    'BOOK   OF   THE   DEAD'    .  .  .137 

XVIII.       EGYPTIAN   ANIMATED   STATUES          ....          144 

ix 


CONTENTS 


XIX.      WHAT    THE     EGYPTIANS     SCRIBBLED    ON    THEIR 

WALLS 150 

XX.      EGYPTIAN    LOVE    POETRY 157 

XXI.      CAN  THE  PRONUNCIATION  OF  THE  HIEROGLYPHIC 

INSCRIPTIONS    BE   DISCOVERED?       .            .            .  163 
XXII.      CONCERNING    A     RECENTLY     DISCOVERED    FRAG- 
MENT  OF   A   COPTIC   NOVEL    .            .            .            .169 

XXIII.  AN    ANCIENT   EGYPTIAN    PROVINCIAL   TOWN            .  176 

XXIV.  A   NEW   EGYPTIAN    TALE 182 

XXV.       HOW   AN    EGYPTIAN   STATESMAN    BECAME   A    GOD  189 

XXVI        EGYPTIAN    FORMULAS    FOR   THE   PROTECTION    OF 

CHILDREN 196 

XXVII.       CONCERNING     A     FRAGMENT    OF    OLD    EGYPTIAN 

ANNALS           .......  203 

XXVIII.       MUMMIES   OF   ANIMALS    IN    ANCIENT    EGYPT           .  208 
XXIX.      THE     FORTUNE    OF     AN     EGYPTIAN     GOD    THREE 

THOUSAND   YEARS   AGO  .  .  .  .215 

XXX.      THE     PALACE     OF    AN     EGYPTIAN     PHARAOH     AT 

THEBES  .  .  .  .  .  .  .221 

XXXI.       AN   EGYPTIAN    BOOK   OF   PROPHECIES              .            .  228 

XXXII.      THE   EGYPTIAN    ORIGIN   OF   THE  ATTIC  DIONYSUS  234 

XXXIII.  A   NEW   TOMB    IN    THE   VALLEY   OF   THE   THEBAN 

KINGS  .......  241 

XXXIV.  THE   OASIS   OF   AMMON 248 

XXXV.       ON      THE     REPRODUCTION     OF     EGYPTIAN     BAS- 
RELIEFS           ....                         .            .  254 

XXXVI.       THE    TREASURE    OF   TOUKH-EL-GARMOUS     .            .  260 

XXXVII.       A   NEW   TREATISE   ON    EGYPTIAN    MEDICINE            .  266 

XXXVIII.      THE   COW   OF   DE!R   EL-BAHARI  .  .  .272 

XXXIX.     THE  TEMPLES  OF  THE  SUN  IN  ARCHAIC  EGYPT       278 
XL.     CONCERNING  A  RECENT  DISCOVERY  OF  EGYPTIAN 

GOLDSMITHS'  WORK       .        .        .         .         .284 
XLI.     THE  TOMB  OF  QUEEN  TfYI        .         .         .         .29! 
XLII.     THE   PURPOSE   OF  THE   WOODEN   TOYS   FOUND 

IN  EGYPTIAN  TOMBS 299 

INDEX 307 


LIST   OF   ILLUSTRATIONS 

The  Cover  of  one  of  the  big  Coffins  in  Davis's  Tomb  Frontispiece 

Facing  page 

The  Audience-Chambers  of  the  old  Palace  at  Susa    .        „      „        10 
The  Site    of  the  City  of  Elephantine*,  seen  from 

Assouan        .        .        .        .        .'        .        .•'•  ,   .        „       „         12 

The  Pigmy  Khnoumhotpou  in  the  Museum  at  Cairo  .        „      „        20 
One  of  the  Walls  in  the  Tomb  of  Nakhouiti       .        .        „      „        28 

The  Site  of  the  Temple  of  Bastit  at  Bubastis  during 

Naville's  excavations „      „        34 

Pharaoh  Thoutmosis  1 1 1,  from  a  Statue  in  the  Museum 

at  Cairo „      „        50 

The  Temple  of  Hatshopsouitou  at  Deir  El-Bahari  after 

Naville's  excavations „  „  74 

The  Name  of  Israel  on  the  triumphal  Stela  of 

Menephtah „  „  92 

King  Sanuosrit  (Usertesen)  I  bringing  the  Oar  and 

Rudder  to  Minu  of  Coptos „  „  98 

The  Barberini  Obelisk  raised  by  Hadrian  for  Antinous        „       „       102 

The  so-called  Palette  of  Narmer,  a  Monument  of 

Archaic  Egypt „       „       122 

The  god  Khonsou.     Head  of  a  Statue  found  in  the 

Temple  of  Khonsou  at  Karnak    .        .        .        .         „      „       146 

A  French  graffito  from  Bonaparte's  Army  in  Egypt  .        „      „       150 

A  Bas-relief  from  a  provincial  school  of  sculpture  at 

Denderah „      „       178 

Amenothe's,  son  of  Paapis,  a  Statue  from  Karnak  in 

the  Cairo  Museum  u      „       188 


xii  LIST  OF  ILLUSTRATIONS 

Amenothe's'  Oracle  in  the  Temple  of  Phtah  at  Karnak    Facing  pagt  192 

One  of  the  faces  of  the  Palermo  Stone,  a  fragment 

of  the  Egyptian  Annals        .        .        >•»••.        „      „  204 

The  Mummy  of  a  Hawk  in  its  Coffin  ....„„  208 

One  of  the  Chairs  in  Davis's  Tomb,  with  its  Cushion        „      „  242 

A  Girl's  Chariot  in  Davis's  Tomb       ....„„  246 

A  Bas-relief  in  the  Tomb  of  Kemnikai  at  Sakkarah  .        „      „  258 

A  Silver  Bowl  and  a  Rhyton  from  the  find  of  Toukh- 

el-Garmous „      „  260 

A  Gold  Bracelet  from  the  find  of  Toukh-el-Garmous        „      „  262 

The  Shrine  and  Cow  in  situ  at  Deir  El-Bahart  .        .        „      „  272 

The  Shrine  and  Cow  in  the  Museum  at  Cairo    .        .        „      „  276 
The  Temple  of  the  Sun  at  Abousir,  from  Borchardt's 

Restoration „      ,,  278 

Queen  Tiyi *        .        „      „  294 


THE   DIPLOMATIC   ARCHIVES    OF   EL-AMARNA    IN   THE   FOUR- 
TEENTH  CENTURY   B.C. — SUSA  AND  THE   DIEULAFOYS 

ABOUT  the  end  of  the  fourteenth  century  B.C.  the 
relations  of  Egypt  with  foreign  powers  were  regulated 
by  officials  attached  to  the  house  of  Pharaoh  who  always 
accompanied  the  king  in  his  travels.  Some  of  them  are 
to  be  seen  in  the  paintings  in  the  Theban  tombs,  where 
they  appear  as  dignified,  solemn  personages,  with  the 
large  wigs  and  the  long  pleated  white  linen  cloaks  worn 
by  people  of  importance.  They  introduced  the  Syrian 
or  Kushite  ambassadors,  and  if  the  strangers  were  not 
already  acquainted  with  the  etiquette  proper  to  the 
audience,  instructed  them  how  to  cover  their  faces  with 
their  hands  in  the  presence  of  the  king,  to  show  their 
dread  of  him  by  broken  exclamations,  to  rub  their  noses 
against  the  ground,  and  to  approach  the  foot  of  the 
throne  on  their  knees.  They  interpreted  the  speeches 
made  in  foreign  tongues,  presented  the  gifts,  and  verified 
the  credentials.  They  had  under  them  secretaries  to 
compose  the  protocols,  interpreters  and  scribes  for 
African  and  Asiatic  languages,  translators,  clerks,  and 
archivists.  Big  terra-cotta  jars  served  for  portfolios  in 
which  to  keep  dispatches;  these  were  carried  in  the 


2         NEW   LIGHT   ON   ANCIENT   EGYPT 

monarch's  train  by  asses,  or  in  a  special  boat,  until,  the 
business  finished,  they  were  consigned  to  the  oblivion  of 
a  lumber-room.  In  1887  the  fellaheen,  who  act  as  guides 
to  the  ruins  of  El-Amarna,  discovered  several  of  these 
diplomatic  jars  in  a  corner  of  the  palace  of  Amenothes 
IV.  They  broke  them,  shared  the  contents,  and  sold 
them  to  the  dealers  in  antiquities;  three  museums,  those 
of  Gizeh,  London,  and  Berlin,  possess  nearly  the  whole 
find.  MM.  Abel  and  Winckler  in  Berlin,  and  Messrs. 
Bezold  and  Budge  in  London  published  a  copy  or  fac- 
simile of  the  documents;  M.  Hale'vy  turned  into  French 
as  much  as  he  could  decipher.  The  lacunae  are  numer- 
ous, the  language  difficult,  and  the  details  of  the 
negotiations  often  escape  us;  but  the  general  sense 
comes  out  clearly  enough  in  the  parts  we  can  read  with 
certainty,  and  we  can  gather  a  distinct  idea  of  the  foreign 
policy  of  Egypt  in  those  far-off  days. 

The  form  and  aspect  are  very  curious.  Imagine 
tablets  of  clay  varying  in  thickness  and  shape  between 
the  size  of  a  cuttle-fish  bone  and  that  of  a  small  sponge- 
cake. The  messenger  who  carried  many  of  them  ran 
the  risk  of  literally  sinking  under  the  weight  of  the 
state  affairs  of  Babylon  and  Memphis;  the  return 
journey  was  much  pleasanter,  for  the  Egyptians  did  not 
use  such  heavy  material,  and  Pharaoh's  reply  was 
written  on  papyrus.  The  writing  is  a  variety  of  the 
cuneiform.  Chaldaean  conquerors  had  often  invaded 
Syria  during  the  preceding  centuries,  and  had  imposed 
their  civilization  on  it.  The  peoples  living  between 
Mount  Taurus  and  the  Egyptian  frontiers  had  adopted 
the  Babylonian  system  of  weights  and  measures;  they 
imitated  Babylonian  models  in  arts  and  in  industries, 
and  adopted  Babylonian  fashions  in  dress,  ornaments 
and  hair-dressing.  Probably  the  Phoenicians  already 
possessed  their  alphabet,  the  source  of  ours,  but  they 
reserved  it  for  their  private  needs;  in  their  communica- 


SUSA    AND    THE   DIEULAFOYS  3 

tions  with  their  neighbours  or  with  their  Egyptian 
suzerains  they  preferred  cuneiform  writing.  And  not 
only  the  Semitic-speaking  states  practised  that  cumber- 
some method  of  writing,  the  Asiatic  tribes  of  the  Taurus 
and  the  Middle  Euphrates  imitated  it,  and  some  of  their 
letters  have  come  down  to  us,  but  they  have  not  yet 
found  an  interpreter.  The  dispatches  in  the  current 
language  are  all  addressed  to  two  Pharaohs  only, 
Amenothes  III  and  his  son  Amenothes  IV,  and  they 
seem  to  cover  a  period  of  from  fifteen  to  twenty  years. 
A  few  of  them  emanate  from  very  exalted  monarchs, 
kings  of  the  Mitanni,  kings  of  Alasia,  kings  of 
Nineveh  or  of  Babylon,  who  address  the  King  of 
Egypt  as  an  equal,  and,  according  to  etiquette,  call  him 
brother.  The  larger  number  of  his  correspondents 
are  of  lower  rank,  sheikhs,  emirs,  governors  of 
towns  who  recommend  themselves  to  the  kindness  of 
"their  lord,  their  god,  their  sun."  The  formulas 
gush  forth  from  their  stylets,  and  many  of  their  mis- 
sives are  merely  strings  of  polite  phrases  in  which  no 
fact  of  importance  is  to  be  distinguished.  They  all 
make  anxious  inquiry  about  the  master's  health,  and 
he  expands  in  kind  wishes  for  the  ladies  of  the  harem, 
the  royal  children,  the  nobles,  the  infantry,  the  cavalry, 
in  fact  for  the  whole  nation.  With  such  courteous 
people  Pharaoh  could  not  have  been  behindhand  in  com- 
pliments, but  we  do  not  know  in  what  terms  he  couched 
them.  His  replies  are  still  hidden,  awaiting  the  blessed 
stroke  of  the  pick-axe  that  shall  restore  them  to  the  light 
of  day. 

Women  were  often  concerned  in  these  diplomatic 
relations.  The  unlimited  polygamy  which  then  flour- 
ished played  a  large  part  in  political  combinations. 
Each  sovereign  possessed  numerous  sisters,  daughters 
or  nieces  of  whom  he  disposed  at  will,  and  however 
full  his  harem  might  be,  he  could  always  find  a  place 


4         NEW   LIGHT   ON   ANCIENT   EGYPT 

for  the  stranger  who  brought  him  a  new  alliance. 
Every  time  an  Egyptian  army  invaded  Syria,  its 
successes  brought  as  many  recruits  to  Pharaoh's  harem 
as  towns  taken  or  petty  kings  subdued.  The  princesses 
were  reckoned  in  the  ransom  of  their  fathers  or  brothers, 
and  were  a  pledge  for  the  loyalty  of  the  family,  but 
their  position  at  court  was  somewhat  precarious ;  for  one 
who  was  privileged  to  receive  the  title  of  queen,  a 
hundred  or  more  never  advanced  beyond  the  position 
of  secondary  wife  or  of  mere  concubine.  The  highest 
rank  belonged  to  the  daughters  of  the  "solar"  blood 
of  Egypt,  heirs  like  their  brothers,  and  who  often  had 
rights  superior  to  theirs  over  the  crown;  the  strangers 
came  afterwards,  and  only  when  Egyptians  failed. 
The  kings  of  Babylon  or  of  the  Mitanni,  who  knew  the 
laws  of  the  neighbouring  countries,  might  be  reluctant  to 
accept  for  their  daughters  a  servitude  which  humiliated 
them  and  their  relatives,  but  the  advantages  of  an 
alliance  with  Pharaoh  were  so  considerable  that  in  the 
end  they  overcame  their  repugnance,  and  one  after  the 
other  sacrificed  all  the  princesses  at  their  disposal. 
They  would  have  liked  to  receive  in  exchange,  if  not 
a  daughter  or  a  sister,  at  least  a  distant  relative  of 
their  powerful  ally.  But  Amenothes  III  had  the  pride 
of  his  race,  and  replied  to  his  brother  of  Babylon  that 
"  no  Egyptian  lady  had  ever  been  given  to  a  foreign 
vassal."  Once  arrived  at  Thebes  the  Asiatics  were  lost 
to  their  own  people;  the  doors  of  the  women's  apart- 
ments closed  behind  them,  and  no  one  ever  knew 
what  became  of  them.  If  a  father  or  brother  made 
inquiries,  and  if  he  demanded  a  guarantee  of  their 
existence,  Pharaoh  sometimes  ordered  that  the  ambas- 
sador charged  with  the  inquiry  should  be  admitted  to 
the  private  part  of  the  palace.  The  poor  man  was 
greatly  embarrassed ;  he  was  introduced  to  a  lady,  richly 
dressed,  and  with  painted  face,  who  declared  herself  to 


SUSA   AND    THE   DIEULAFOYS  5 

be  she  whom  he  sought,  but  he  had  no  means  of  prov- 
ing that  she  spoke  the  truth.  The  brides  brought  with 
them  a  train  of  servants,  slaves,  and  scribes,  a  trousseau, 
furniture,  jewels,  and  gold  and  silver  treasure  which 
assured  their  maintenance.  It  was  the  custom  for  the 
son-in-law  to  give  his  father-in-law  a  present  in  propor- 
tion to  the  value  of  the  dowry,  and  he  acquitted  himself 
of  this  expensive  obligation,  but  without  enthusiasm. 
It  was  a  case  for  endless  recrimination ;  whatever  was 
paid  him,  the  Syrian  declared  that  it  was  not  equivalent 
to  his  daughter.  Sometimes  he  refused  to  accept  the 
gift ;  more  often  he  claimed  a  supplement  by  grumbling 
letters,  or  he  pointed  out  with  zest  the  contrast  between 
Egyptian  parsimony  and  his  own  generosity. 

Side  by  side  with  the  documents  that  reveal  these 
little-known  sides  of  the  sovereign's  private  life,  others 
show  us  the  political  situation  in  those  parts  of  Syria 
that  were  under  his  influence.  The  Egyptians  never 
possessed  a  regular  empire  in  Asia,  divided  into  pro- 
vinces, and  administered  by  a  governor  directly 
appointed  by  them.  They  occupied  a  few  scattered 
fortresses  on  the  strategic  routes,  but  the  rest  remained 
in  the  hands  of  the  native  nobles  who  had  held  them 
at  the  moment  of  the  invasion.  These  surrendered 
after  a  short  resistance,  paid  an  annual  tribute  in 
precious  metals  or  in  the  products  of  local  industry, 
and  undertook  to  fight  the  enemies  of  their  suzerain 
whosoever  they  might  be.  With  that  exception  they 
continued  their  former  way  of  life,  keeping  their 
religion,  their  laws,  their  customs;  they  made  alliances 
with  or  fought  each  other,  they  pillaged  towns,  laid 
waste  fields,  plundered  caravans,  and  robbed  or  mur- 
dered Pharaoh's  messengers.  Pharaoh  interfered  in 
their  affairs  as  little  as  possible,  but  they  harassed  him 
unceasingly  with  their  grievances  and  recriminations. 

The  El-Amarna  find  contains  about  fifty  of  these  terra- 


cotta  documents  relating  to  a  quarrel  between  Rib- 
Adda,  a  noble  of  Byblos,  and  a  certain  Abdashirta, 
into  which  other  nobles  of  the  Phoenician  coast  and 
of  Coelo-Syria  were  drawn.  Both  factions  implored  the 
unfortunate  Amenothes  IV  to  intervene  in  their  favour, 
and  so  we  have  now  and  again  the  two  opposite  versions 
of  the  same  event.  They  mutually  accuse  each  other  of 
treason,  of  cheating,  of  murder;  they  beg  the  aid  of 
troops,  of  ten,  twenty,  fifty  archers,  and  imply  that  their 
adversary  is  openly  or  secretly  in  connivance  with 
Pharaoh's  enemies,  preferably  with  the  Khatis.  The 
intrigues  and  disputes  in  this  province  offer  a  faithful 
picture  of  what  was  happening  elsewhere.  Fighting 
was  going  on  from  one  end  of  the  territory  to  the  other, 
and  peace  no  more  reigned  among  the  vassals  of  the 
king  of  Egypt  than  it  did  among  the  nobles  of  medieval 
France  in  the  eleventh  century.  It  is  to  be  noted  that 
a  large  number  of  the  names  mentioned  in  the  Old 
Testament  or  by  classical  geographers  are  mentioned  in 
these  inscriptions,  Tyre,  Sidon,  Berytes,  Accho,  Damas- 
cus, Gaza,  even  Jerusalem.  I  need  scarcely  emphasize 
what  deep  interest  this  authentic  collection  of  letters 
written  by  inhabitants  of  Canaan  more  than  a  century 
before  the  entry  of  the  Hebrews  into  the  Promised  Land 
possesses  in  relation  to  biblical  criticism. 

All  who  have  admired  the  archers  of  Susa  in  the 
Louvre  will  be  glad  to  see  them  again  in  the  coloured 
plates  with  which  M.  Dujardin  has  adorned  M.  Dieu- 
lafoy's  work.1  Never  before  have  the  cold  and  brilliant 
tones  of  enamelled  brick  been  reproduced  with  such 
exactness  and  fidelity.  Doubtless  the  impression  of 
semi-latent  life,  which  is  felt  in  presence  of  the  originals, 
is  not  felt  in  looking  at  the  copies;  no  artifice,  however 
perfect,  could  reproduce  it.  It  is  due  to  the  incessant 

1  M.  Dieulafoy  :  LAcropole  de  Suse,  Paris,  1893. 


SUSA    AND    THE   DIEULAFOYS  7 

play  of  light  on  the  prominence  of  the  reliefs,  and  to 
the  thickness  of  the  enamels;  and  the  spectator  con- 
tinually increases  the  illusion  by  the  modifications  of 
the  light  he  himself  unconsciously  produces  with  each  of 
his  movements.  When,  however,  the  picture  is  looked 
at  at  one  fixed  point,  the  light  does  not  shift;  directly 
the  light  becomes  still  the  appearance  of  life  is  lost. 

M.  Dieulafoy  has  related  elsewhere  the  adventures 
of  the  mission  to  which  France  owes  the  most  beautiful 
works  of  ancient  Persian  civilization.  He  is  now  at- 
tempting to  utilize  the  materials  he  has  brought  back, 
and  by  their  means  to  reconstruct  a  history  of  the 
Susian  acropolis.  The  Greeks  regarded  Susa  as  the 
perfect  type  of  those  Asiatic  capitals  by  the  side  of 
which  the  cities  of  Hellas  seemed  insignificant  villages. 
Its  name  alone  awoke  even  in  the  most  unimaginative 
minds  an  idea  of  almost  superhuman  grandeur  and 
beauty :  palaces  panelled  with  cedar  and  gold,  sup- 
ported on  gigantic  columns;  gardens  as  big  as  pro- 
vinces, in  which  the  deer  might  be  hunted  for  whole 
days  without  leaving  the  enclosure;  mysterious  temples 
in  which  the  sacred  fire  was  never  extinguished;  troops 
of  women  and  of  eunuchs;  the  Immortals  with  their 
priceless  robes  and  weapons;  a  horde  of  nobles,  friends, 
relatives,  and  alone,  apart  from  the  crowd,  the  Great 
King,  the  king  of  kings,  who,  with  his  nod,  could  set 
the  world  in  an  uproar,  and  precipitate  Asia  upon 
divided  Greece.  The  past  might  be  guessed  from  what 
was  seen  in  the  present;  its  masters  had  always  ruled 
over  a  powerful  empire,  the  oldest  known  after  Egypt 
and  Babylon.  The  citadel  was  situated  on  a  lofty 
mound  of  rubbish  between  two  of  the  numerous  arms 
which  the  Oulai  hollows  out  in  the  black  earth.  An 
amphitheatre  of  snow  mountains  was  vaguely  outlined 
behind  it  from  east  to  north;  in  the  west  the  alluvial 
plains  were  spread  out,  and  the  view  extended  over  fields, 


8         NEW   LIGHT   ON   ANCIENT   EGYPT 

rivers,  and  woods  as  far  as  the  marshes  that  divide 
Elam  from  Chaldaea.  Whether  the  enemy  descended 
from  the  tableland  of  Iran  or  came  up  from  the 
shallows  of  the  Euphrates,  Susa  could  perceive  his 
approach  from  afar,  and  had  more  time  than  was  needed 
to  prepare  a  warm  welcome  for  him. 

M.  Dieulafoy  discovered  only  the  ruins  of  the  old 
fortress  which  fell  under  the  blows  of  the  Assyrians; 
but  from  them  he  has  been  able  to  make  out  almost 
the  whole  plan  of  the  Persian  fortress.  He  patiently 
followed  the  traces  of  the  walls  on  the  ground,  he 
cleared  away  the  rubbish  from  those  portions  which 
seemed  to  offer  some  interesting  peculiarity  of  con- 
struction, and  succeeded  in  reconstructing  in  imagina- 
tion the  whole  of  the  ramparts,  towers,  ditches,  and 
gates  which  protected  the  king's  palace.  To  have  a 
subject  so  difficult  as  archaic  fortification  treated  by  an 
expert  who  combines  technical  knowledge  with  a  true 
feeling  for  antiquity,  is  rare  good  fortune  both  for 
archaeologists  and  historians.  M.  Dieulafoy  rapidly 
reviewed  Egypt,  Babylonia,  Syria,  and  Assyria;  he 
examined  what  each  of  the  great  oriental  nations  in- 
vented for  attack  and  defence,  and  the  conclusions  to 
which  this  inquiry  has  led  him  must  considerably 
modify  current  opinion.  The  Egyptian  citadels  are 
conceived  for  the  most  part  on  a  plan  of  the  simplest 
regularity.  The  reason  is,  I  think,  to  do  with  the 
nature  of  the  ground  rather  than  with  the  engineers' 
lack  of  skill.  The  inundation  which  recurs  almost  on 
a  fixed  day,  and  transforms  the  cities  into  so  many 
islands  scattered  unevenly  over  the  surface  of  an  im- 
mense lake,  makes  the  approaches  very  difficult  during 
several  months  of  the  year.  It  was  an  advantage  for 
the  inhabitants,  but  it  imposed  plans  of  severe  simplicity. 
It  was  necessary  that  the  water  should  flow  along  the 
walls  without  meeting  any  obstacle  which  should  check 


SUSA    AND    THE    DIEULAFOYS  g 

its  impetuosity.  The  slightest  excrescence  would  have 
caused  eddies  likely  to  menace  the  solidity  of  the  place ; 
the  river  would  slowly  but  surely  have  worn  away  the 
ramparts,  as  it  wears  away  the  promontories  which  jut 
out  beyond  the  line  of  the  banks,  and  one  fine  day  would 
have  carried  them  away.  Therefore  the  greater  number 
of  Egyptian  citadels  form  a  parallelogram  of  thick,  com- 
pact, rectilineal  walls,  without  towers  or  other  excres- 
cences. The  Chaldaeans,  who,  like  the  Egyptians,  in- 
habited lands  subject  to  annual  inundations,  seem  to 
have  protected  their  towns  in  a  similar  manner.  As 
far  as  we  can  tell  up  to  the  present  time,  they  were 
regular  enclosures  of  a  sufficient  thickness  to  resist  the 
battering-ram  and  sapping,  but  almost  smooth  on  the 
outer  side,  or  furnished  with  towers  that  were  little 
higher  than  the  ramparts.  To  find  fortifications  of  a 
more  ingenious  conception,  and  more  in  keeping  with 
our  customs,  we  must  go  to  countries  where  the  rivers 
do  not  overflow,  to  Canaan  or  to  Assyria. 

M.  Dieulafoy  has  very  cleverly  restored  the  aspect 
of  the  Ninevite  and  Babylonian  citadels  by  consulting 
the  pictures  on  the  monuments;  he  then  verified  the 
results  obtained  on  the  ground  itself,  comparing  them 
with  certain  facts  with  which  the  excavations  at  Susa 
had  furnished  him.  The  large  Susian  towns  were  sur- 
rounded with  a  triple  fence,  the  arrangement  of  which 
singularly  recalls  the  plans  adopted  by  the  Byzantine 
emperors  at  Constantinople.  To  attack  them  was  a 
formidable  enterprise,  and  needed  much  time,  patience, 
and  tenacity,  many  men  and  many  engines  of  war.  The 
walls  were  too  high  for  scaling,  and  the  engineers  of 
that  time  were  ignorant  of  the  art  of  undermining  the 
foundations;  they  had  to  demolish  and  pull  down  the 
ramparts  by  blows  of  the  battering-ram,  or  by  means 
of  metal  hooks,  to  break  or  burn  the  gates,  and  to  carry 
on  all  their  operations  amid  a  hail  of  arrows,  stones, 


io      NEW   LIGHT   ON  ANCIENT   EGYPT 

and  heavy  beams.  The  contour  of  the  building  was 
wonderfully  adapted  to  allow  the  defenders  to  kill  as 
many  of  the  enemy  as  possible;  even  when  the  breach 
was  opened  and  the  town  occupied,  all  was  not  lost, 
for  the  keep  offered  them  a  safe  shelter  whence  they 
could  make  a  long  resistance  while  waiting  their  deliver- 
ance by  a  succouring  army.  The  fortresses  of  Susa, 
after  braving  the  efforts  of  the  Assyrians,  defied  those  of 
the  Greeks.  Treason  delivered  them  to  Alexander,  but 
none  of  the  generals  who  attacked  them  during  the 
wars  which  followed,  succeeded  in  entering  them  by 
force,  although  the  garrisons  consisted  of  only  a  handful 
of  men.  Abandoned  by  the  Parthians  and  the  Sassa- 
nides,  they  were  mere  heaps  of  ruins  when  the  Arabs 
invaded  the  country  and  converted  it  to  Islamism.  The 
millions  of  unbaked  bricks  of  which  they  were  built, 
decomposed  by  the  sun  and  half  liquefied  by  the  rain, 
gradually  became  amalgamated,  and  form  now  a  com- 
pact mass,  which  at  first  yields  no  trace  of  the  work  of 
human  hands;  only  those  who  have  prosecuted  their 
researches  under  similar  conditions  will  realize  the 
patience  and  sagacity  required  to  ascertain  the  thickness 
of  the  beds  of  brick,  the  direction  of  the  face,  the  per- 
spective and  intersection  of  the  walls. 

Who  does  not  remember  the  ingenious  reconstruc- 
tions of  the  palaces  in  the  Susian  Acropolis  by  M.  and 
Madame  Dieulafoy  at  the  French  exhibition  of  1889?  In 
the  book  before  me  they  fill  several  skilfully  engraved 
plates.  They  were  partly  audience  chambers  in  which 
the  Great  King  deigned  to  reveal  himself  to  the  nobles 
of  the  court  and  to  foreign  ambassadors  on  days  of 
solemn  festival.  The  restoration  is  doubtful  in  more 
than  one  place,  and  further  excavations  may  extract 
information  from  the  earth  which  will  give  the  problem 
a  different  aspect.  But  many  points  are  established 
with  sufficient  certainty  to  enable  us  to  judge  from  the 


SUSA   AND    THE   DIEULAFOYS  u 

work  of  M.  Dieulafoy  what  Persian  architecture  was. 
There  is  only  one  type  which  properly  belongs  to  it, 
that  of  crouching  bulls,  joined  in  couples  by  the  middle 
of  the  body  and  surmounting  the  capitals  of  the  columns ; 
the  rest  is  borrowed  from  diverse  peoples,  from  Assyria 
and  Babylonia,  from  Egypt,  from  Asia  Minor,  from 
Greece.  It  must,  however,  be  admitted  that  Persian 
architects  understood  how  to  construct  grand  and  original 
buildings  out  of  those  differing  elements. 

M.  Dieulafoy  has  briefly  indicated  the  sources,  and 
his  comparisons  between  the  coloured  bas-reliefs  of 
Susa,  and  various  Asiatic  or  Greek  works  of  a  semi- 
archaic  style  are  most  ingenious.  Just  as  nobles  and 
princes  belonging  to  all  the  nations  that  Cyrus  or 
Darius  had  conquered,  were  to  be  seen  at  the  court, 
workmen  and  artists  of  every  nationality  crowded  the 
scaffoldings;  each  worked  in  his  own  fashion,  and 
derived  something  from  or  lent  something  to  his  neigh- 
bour, the  Susian  to  the  Egyptian,  and  he  in  his  turn 
to  the  Greek  or  the  Assyrian.  The  lotus  of  the  Nile 
was  associated  with  types  of  animals  from  the  banks 
of  the  Euphrates,  and  the  Immortals  of  the  royal 
guard  were  draped  like  the  figures  on  the  Lycian  reliefs. 
Persian  art  was  as  composite  as  the  Persian  Empire, 
and  the  loans  that  it  made  right  and  left  had  no  more 
time  to  commingle  into  one  harmonious  whole  than 
the  various  nationalities  had  to  combine  themselves  into 
one  people. 


II 

THE   OLDEST   KNOWN  EXPLORERS   OF  THE 
AFRICAN   DESERT 

THE  most  ancient  explorers  of  Africa  have  recently 
risen  from  their  graves.  They  are  Egyptians,  who 
belong  to  one  of  the  most  powerful  families  of  the 
country,  to  that  of  the  lords  of  Assouan  and  Elephan- 
tine". They  lived  somewhere  about  the  year  3500  B.C. 
— two  or  three  centuries  are  of  no  consequence  in  deal- 
ing with  dates  in  the  history  of  ancient  Eastern  empires. 
I  cannot  say  that  these  explorers  penetrated  far  into  the 
interior  of  the  Dark  Continent,  but  their  expeditions 
were  long,  fatiguing,  dangerous,  profitable.  They  in- 
spired them  with  so  much  pride,  and  brought  them  so 
many  good  things,  that  they  desired  to  preserve  their 
memory  for  posterity,  and  engraved  the  narrative  in 
their  tombs.  In  1892  Schiaparelli  copied  and  pub- 
lished the  memoirs  of  one  of  them,  named  Hirkhouf.1 
De  Morgan  and  Bouriant  discovered  several  others2  in 
1893,  equally  as  illustrious  in  their  day,  and  as  unknown 
in  ours,  as  Hirkhouf.  The  inscriptions  are  mutilated 
in  varying  degrees,  and  what  remains  often  serves  only 
to  make  us  regret  what  is  lost;  they  prove,  however, 
that  the  Egyptians  who  are  always  represented  as  home- 
keeping  and  hostile  to  travelling  possessed  active  minds 
and  a  spirit  of  enterprise. 

1  E.  Schiaparelli :  "  Una  tomba  egiziana  inedita  della  VI*  dinastia, 
con  inscrizioni  storiche  e  geografiche,"  Rome,  1892.   (Extract  from  the 
Memoirs  of  the  Reale  Accademia  dei  Lt'ncei,  Ser.  4%  at  Vol.  x,  Pt.  I.) 

2  Cf.  De  lafrontiere  de  Nubie  ct  Kom-Ombo^  1893,  pp.  143-599. 


EXPLORERS   OF    THE   AFRICAN   DESERT   13 

Elephantine  played  the  same  part  in  ancient  times 
as  Assouan  does  in  modern  times;  it  was  the  most  fre- 
quented commercial  market  of  the  Soudan.  It  filled  a 
small  portion  of  a  little  island,  supported  on  several 
blocks  of  granite,  which  had  been  successively  joined 
to  each  other  by  banks  of  sand,  and  over  which  the 
Nile  had  spread  a  thick  covering  of  mud.  Acacias, 
mulberry-trees,  date-trees,  and  dom-palms,  either  as 
hedges  bordering  the  paths,  or  as  a  screen  in  front  of 
the  river,  or  in  clumps  in  the  middle  of  the  fields,  pro- 
vided shade.  Half-a-dozen  norias,  arranged  like  a  bat- 
tery along  the  river-banks,  pumped  up  the  water  day 
and  night,  with  their  incessant,  monotonous  grinding 
noise.  The  inhabitants  did  not  waste  an  inch  of  their 
narrow  domain;  they  managed  to  sow  everywhere  little 
patches  of  millet  and  barley,  clover  and  vegetables.  A 
few  buffaloes  and  cows  fed  discreetly  in  the  corners, 
innumerable  chickens  and  pigeons  roved  around 
marauding.  The  ancient  town  was  situated  to  the 
south,  on  a  high  granite  plateau,  out  of  the  way  of  the 
inundation.  The  ruins  are  some  872  yards  in  extent, 
and  are  grouped  round  a  ruined  temple,  the  oldest  parts 
of  which  do  not  go  further  back  than  the  sixteenth 
century  B.C.  The  town  was  surrounded  by  a  high  wall, 
and  a  conduit  house  built  of  dried  bricks,  situated  on  the 
south-east  of  a  neighbouring  island,  allowed  it  to  open 
or  close  the  outlet  of  the  cataract  at  will.  On  the  east, 
but  separated  by  a  channel  about  100  yards  wide,  stood 
Syene  on  the  side  of  the  hill,  like  a  suburb  of  Elephan- 
tine". Marshy  pasture  land  covered  the  actual  site  of 
Assouan,  and  there  were  gardens,  vines  which  pro- 
duced a  wine  famous  throughout  the  valley,  and  a  forest 
of  date-trees  and  acacias  running  northwards  along  the 
edge  of  the  water.  The  bazaars  and  streets  of  the  twin 
cities  must  have  presented  at  that  period  quite  an  interest- 
ing variety  of  types  and  costumes  :  Nubians,  Soudanese 


14       NEW   LIGHT   ON   ANCIENT   EGYPT 

negroes,  and  perhaps  Arabs,  rubbed  shoulders  with 
Libyans  and  the  Egyptians  of  the  Delta.  On  the  other 
side  of  the  river,  the  left  bank,  vast  cemeteries  offered 
one  asylum  to  the  diverse  races.  The  tombs  of  the 
princes  occupied  an  irregular  line  on  the  side  of  the 
steep  hill  which  dominates  the  entrance  of  the  port.  A 
roughly  constructed  flight  of  steps  of  unhewn  stone  led 
from  the  bank  to  the  entrance  of  the  hypogeum.  The 
mummy,  after  slowly  climbing  the  ascent  on  the  shoul- 
ders of  its  bearers,  paused  for  a  moment  on  the  platform 
at  the  door  of  the  chapel.  The  decoration  did  not 
admit  of  much  variety;  it  was  almost  entirely  displayed 
on  the  outer  side  of  the  walls  which  enclose  the  bay, 
and  which  is  distinctly  seen  from  the  streets  of  Elephan- 
tine". A  long  inscription  covers  the  lintel  and  the  up- 
rights, and  the  portrait  of  the  dead  man  stands  right 
and  left,  as  if  to  guard  safely  his  eternal  home. 

Mekhou  is  the  first  of  the  nobles  whose  adventures 
are  known  to  us.  He  lived  under  Pioupi  II,  who  is  the 
Pharaoh  before  the  last  of  the  Vlth  Dynasty.1  His 
cousin  Hirkhouf  made  three  successive  journeys  during 
the  reign  of  Metesouphis  I,  Pioupi  IPs  predecessor. 
Metesouphis  I  was  still  quite  young  when  he  came  to 
Elephantin6  in  the  fifth  year  of  his  reign.  There  the 
chief  nomad  races  of  the  desert,  the  Ouaouaitou,  the 
Mazaiou,  the  people  of  Iritit,  paid  him  homage,  and 
their  submission  doubtless  encouraged  him  to  send  an 
expedition  into  the  district,  as  little  visited  then  as  it  is 
to-day,  that  lies  along  the  left  bank  of  the  Nile  as  far 
as  Derr.  His  choice  fell  on  Iroui,  Hirkhouf 's  father,  and 
on  Hirkhouf  himself.  "  His  Majesty  sent  me  with  my 
father,  Iroui,  to  the  land  of  Amami  to  open  up  the  road 
to  that  country ;  I  accomplished  it  in  seven  months,  and 
brought  back  all  kinds  of  commodities,  for  which  I  was 

1  See  inscription  of  Mekhou  in  J.  de  Morgan  :  De  la  frontftre  de 
V Egypt  d  Kom-Ombo,  p.  147. 


EXPLORERS  OF  THE  AFRICAN  DESERT    15 

highly  praised."1  This  was  only,  so  to  speak,  a  trial 
trip,  in  which  he  served  his  apprenticeship  under  his 
father's  tuition.  He  soon  set  out  again,  and  this  time 
alone.  "  I  set  out  by  the  Elephantin6  route;  I  travelled 
in  the  land  of  Iritit,  then  in  the  land  of  Makhir,  then 
in  Dar-risi,  which  belongs  to  Iritit,  for  the  space  of 
eight  months;  I  travelled  there,  and  brought  back  great 
store  of  commodities  of  all  kinds,  such  as  had  never 
before  been  brought  into  Egypt.  I  travelled  through 
the  territories  of  the  Prince  of  Sitou,  which  belongs  to 
the  people  of  Iritit.  I  traversed  those  regions,  a  prowess 
accomplished  by  none  of  the  chiefs  of  caravans  who  had 
gone  before  me  to  the  land  of  Amami."2  Returned 
home,  the  king  did  not  allow  him  to  remain  long  in- 
active. "  His  Majesty  sent  me  a  third  time  to  the  land 
of  Amami ;  I  left  Elephantin£  by  the  road  of  the  oasis, 
and  found  the  Prince  of  Amami  about  to  march 
towards  the  country  of  the  Timihou,  to  make  war  on 
them,  at  the  western  corner  of  the  sky.  I  accompanied 
him  against  the  Timihou,  and  helped  him  to  conquer 
them  so  thoroughly  that  he  paid  homage  to  all  the  gods 
of  Pharaoh.  I  then  won  over  the  Prince  of  Amami,  and 
traversed  Amami  from  the  country  of  Iritit  to  the  bor- 
ders of  Sitou.  I  found  the  Prince  of  Iritit,  Sitou,  and  the 
people  of  Ouaouit  living  in  peace.  I  travelled  with  300 
asses  laden  with  incense,  ebony,  ivory,  rhinoceros  skins, 
leopard  skins,  and  all  sorts  of  excellent  commodities."  3 
Egyptian  soldiers  escorted  him,  as  well  as  auxiliaries 
from  Amami,  and  the  sheikhs  of  Iritit  had  to  furnish 
him  with  asses,  oxen,  and  the  provisions  needed  to 
maintain  the  little  army.  When  he  reached  the  frontiers 
of  Egypt,  Pharaoh  sent  "  the  Lord  Ouni  to  meet  him 
with  a  boat  laden  with  confectionery,  good  things,  and 

1  Inscription  of  Hirkhouf,  B,  I.  4-5.        2  Ibid.,  B,  I.  5-10. 
3  Ibid.,  B,  I.  10-14,  and  C,  I.  1-5. 


16       NEW   LIGHT   ON   ANCIENT   EGYPT 

beer"1   to   comfort   him   after   the   privations   he   had 
endured  in  the  course  of  his  travels. 

Hirkhouf  cared  nothing  for  oratorical  developments; 
he  said  what  he  had  to  say,  baldly,  never  suspecting 
that  more  could  be  desired  of  him  than  the  names  of  the 
peoples  among  whom  he  travelled,  and  a  brief  list  of  the 
articles  he  brought  back.  His  bare  information  must  be 
supplemented  by  the  testimony  of  more  recent  adven- 
turers acting  under  similar  conditions.  Like  the  Arab 
travellers  of  the  Middle  Ages,  the  Egyptians  of  the 
Ancient  Empire  traversed  the  world  for  the  sake  of 
trade;  they  set  out  on  their  discoveries  with  a  pack  of 
trumpery  wares,  and  returned  from  them  with  bales  of 
valuable  merchandise.  It  will  perhaps  be  asked  why  the 
rulers  of  Elephantine",  who  had  considerable  troops  at 
their  disposal,  did  not  resort  to  brute  force  to  cut  a  way 
through  the  Nubian  tribes.  They  did  not  hesitate  on 
occasion  to  send  bands  of  soldiers  to  the  right  or  left  of 
the  Valley  of  the  Nile,  to  the  Red  Sea,  or  to  the  oases 
of  the  Libyan  desert;  indeed,  their  incursions  into  those 
regions  brought  them  oxen,  slaves,  wood,  coal,  a  few 
ounces  of  gold,  a  few  packets  of  amethysts,  or  of  green 
felspar,  used  for  jewellery;  they  always  gained  some- 
thing thereby,  and  the  royal  treasury  disdained  no  con- 
tribution, however  small.  But  their  armies  never  went 
very  far;  directly  they  desired  to  carry  their  depreda- 
tions to  any  great  distance,  the  Nubian  mountains 
stopped  their  foot  soldiers,  and  the  rapids  of  the  second 
cataract  offered  an  almost  insuperable  obstacle  to  their 
boats.  They  were  obliged  to  lay  down  their  arms,  and 
to  become  perforce  peaceful  traders ;  their  caravans  could 
then  traverse  in  safety  routes  from  which  their  soldiers 
would  not  have  escaped  unharmed.  And  Hirkhouf,  or 
Mekhou,  had  to  act  by  the  king's  decree.  The  objects 
chosen  for  barter  were  those  that  had  most  value  in 
1  Inscription  of  Hirkhouf,  C,  I.  8-9. 


EXPLORERS   OF  THE  AFRICAN  DESERT    17 

small  compass  and  were  of  light  weight :  small  glass 
wares,  jewellery,  coarse  cutlery,  strong  perfumes,  gaudy 
stuffs  which,  fifty  centuries  later,  still  have  charm  for 
the  natives  of  Africa.  They  paid  for  these  costly 
treasures  in  gold  dust  or  bullion,  ostrich  feathers,  lion 
or  leopard  skins,  elephants'  teeth,  cowries,  blocks  of 
ebony  wood,  incense,  myrrh,  gum  arabic.  Monkeys, 
especially  baboons,  were  greatly  esteemed  in  Egypt. 
They  amused  the  nobles  who  chained  them  to  their 
chairs  on  days  of  solemn  festival;  the  traders  willingly 
undertook  to  try  and  bring  them  back  alive.  The  way 
was  exhausting,  the  journey  interminable ;  the  asses,  the 
sole  beasts  of  burden  possessed  or  used  in  those  regions, 
could  only  manage  short  stages,  and  it  took  many  months 
to  cover  distances  that  a  caravan  of  camels  accomplishes 
in  a  few  weeks.  The  routes  they  chose  were  those  in  which 
wells  or  springs  occur  at  not  too  distant  intervals,  and 
the  necessity  of  often  watering  the  asses,  and  the  impos- 
sibility of  carrying  a  large  provision  of  water,  compelled 
the  explorer  to  take  tortuous  or  complicated  routes.  It 
is  thus  easy  to  understand  that  Hirkhouf  and  his  con- 
temporaries did  not  penetrate  very  far  into  the  mystery  of 
Africa.  The  countries  that  they  were  so  proud  of  having 
visited  were  not  so  very  distant  from  Egypt,  Amami 
and  Iritit  in  the  desert,  south-west  of  Elephantine^  be- 
tween the  first  and  second  cataract ;  the  Timihou,  situated 
towards  the  western  corner  of  the  sky,  were  the  Berbers 
who  peopled  the  oases.  In  short,  the  nobles  of  Elephan- 
tine" exerted  themselves  under  the  Pharaohs  of  the  Vlth 
Dynasty  to  discover  Nubia  and  the  Libyan  desert. 

The  knowledge  gained  was  scarcely  more  than  the 
names  of  races,  mingled  with  marvellous  tales  or  mytho- 
logical legends.  The  Nile  had  its  source  in  a  divine 
river  which  enveloped  the  sky,  and  on  which  the  Boat 
of  the  Sun  continually  sailed,  the  river-ocean  of  Greek 
tradition ;  having  reached  the  southern  regions  of  the 


i8       NEW   LIGHT   ON  ANCIENT   EGYPT 

firmament,  an  arm  was  detached,  and  fell  on  the  earth 
in  a  tumultuous  cascade.  The  point  where  it  touched 
our  world  was  first  placed  at  the  first  cataract,  and  then, 
as  geographical  knowledge  widened,  it  was  put  further 
south.  It  is  obvious  that  its  neighbourhood  should  be 
inhabited  by  special  races,  intermediary  between  men 
and  gods.  All  the  travellers  who  approached  it  drew 
attention  to  the  existence  of  an  Island  of  Doubles,  where 
a  serpent  with  a  human  voice  reigned  over  the  doubles 
of  the  dead,  and  of  a  land  of  Manes,  the  name  of  which 
sufficiently  indicates  its  nature.  The  last  of  the  coun- 
tries similar  to  Egypt  was  Pouanit,  the  land  of  gold  and 
incense,  which  extended  along  the  coast  of  the  Red  Sea. 
The  traders  who  frequented  it  purchased  objects  or 
creatures  hailing  from  the  fabulous  regions  of  the  ex- 
treme south;  what  they  sought  most  and  found  least 
was  a  particular  kind  of  pygmy,  whose  name,  Danga, 
curiously  resembles  that  of  several  African  tribes.  The 
first  Danga  was  brought  into  Egypt  a  little  less  than  a 
century  before  Hirkhouf,under  Pharaoh  Assi,  of  the  Vth 
Dynasty.  The  pygmy  had  been  welcomed  at  court  as  a 
sort  of  buffoon,  useful  for  charming  away  the  sovereign's 
ennui  by  his  savage  cries  and  gestures,  and,  above  all, 
by  a  sort  of  ballet  that  he  performed  alone  admirably, 
called  the  Dance  of  the  god.1  The  god  whose  dance  he 
imitated  was  himself  a  dwarf,  with  a  big  head  covered 
with  long  hair,  a  bearded  face,  and  enormous  limbs, 
and  clothed  in  a  leopard  skin.  He  was  named  Bisou, 
and  came  originally  from  the  ports  of  Pouanit,  early 
becoming  naturalized  in  Egypt.  Bisou,  both  jovial  and 
grim,  both  warrior  and  musician,  expressed  his  varia- 
tions of  temper  in  warlike  mimicry  with  sword  and 
shield,  or  in  joyous  movements  to  the  tune  of  the  little 

1  Inscription  of  Hirkhouf,  D,  I.  6-9.  The  Danga  reminds  us  of  the 
Satyrs  who,  according  to  Diodorus  (I.  18),  were  brought  to  Osiris  in 
Ethiopia,  and  whom  he  attached  to  his  army. 


EXPLORERS  OF  THE  AFRICAN  DESERT    19 

triangular  harp  of  the  desert  tribes,  on  which  he 
accompanied  himself. 

The  Danga  of  the  time  of  Assi  had  so  greatly  aston- 
ished the  courtiers  by  his  agility,  that  ever  since  they 
had  tried  to  procure  a  similar  buffoon;  but  the  species 
was  rare,  and  years  passed  without  any  success  in  re- 
placing him.  The  admiration  which  he  had  inspired 
produced  unexpected  results.  Souls,  even  those  of  the 
Pharaohs  themselves,  could  not  penetrate  into  the  para- 
dise of  Osiris  except  by  crossing  an  arm  of  the  sea  which 
divided  it  from  the  land  of  the  living.  A  magic  ferry- 
boat undertook  the  service  on  certain  days,  but  the  ferry- 
man did  not  admit  all  and  sundry  of  the  would-be  pas- 
sengers :  they  had  to  prove  their  right  to  embark,  and 
to  answer  a  hundred  captious  questions  on  transcendental 
theology  before  he  consented  to  ferry  them  across.  A 
prayer,  doubtless  composed  a  short  while  after  the  reign 
of  Assi,  when  the  memory  of  the  Danga  was  still  fresh, 
shows  us  the  ferry-boat  at  its  post  awaiting  the  Manes. 
Suddenly  a  noise  is  heard  among  the  gods  and  the  souls 
on  the  bank;  the  Danga  arrives,  and  he  must  be  taken 
without  delay  to  Pharaoh  Osiris,  who  has  sought  him  in 
vain  until  now,  and  who  expects  great  pleasure  from  his 
dancing.  The  ferryman  immediately  loses  his  head, 
takes  on  board  the  soul  which  gives  itself  out  to  be  the 
Danga,  pilots  it  without  asking  a  single  question  to  the 
port  of  paradise,  and  puts  it  ashore  at  the  steps  leading 
to  the  tribunal  of  Osiris,  where  it  will  represent  the 
qualities  of  the  Danga  it  so  cleverly  usurped.1 

The  ideal  thing  for  an  Egyptian  explorer  entrusted 
with  an  official  mission  was  to  come  across  a  Danga, 
and  to  transport  it  alive  into  Egypt.  Hirkhouf  was  more 
fortunate  than  many  others;  during  his  third  journey 
he  purchased  one  that  the  hazards  of  trade  ha3  brought 

1  Papi  I,  i.  400-404 ;  Mirinrf  i.,  570-571  ;  cf.  Maspero  :  Etudes  de 
Mythologie  et  d'Arch/ologie  Egyptiennes^  Vol.  ii,  pp.  429-443. 


to  the  land  of  Amami,  and  which  came  originally  from 
the  Land  of  Manes.  The  emotions  of  the  court  were 
greatly  stirred  at  the  good  news,  for  Assi's  Danga  was 
the  last  that  had  been  seen  there,  and  the  strange  play- 
thing was  only  known  by  tradition.  Metesouphis,  who 
had  sent  Hirkhouf  on  his  travels,  had  just  died  after  a 
reign  of  ten  years;  he  took  his  rest  in  one  of  the  pyra- 
mids of  Sakkarah,  whence  he  was  not  to  come  forth 
until  1 88 1,  to  exhibit  himself  to  admiring  tourists  in  one 
of  the  glass  cases  in  the  Boulak  museum,  and  to  show 
us  'what  the  mummy  of  a  king  was  like  in  3500  B.C. 
His  youngest  brother,  Pioupi  II,  succeeded  him,  when  he 
was  about  twenty  years  old,  and  the  joy  with  which  he 
welcomed  the  messenger  who  announced  the  capture  of 
the  Danga  may  well  be  imagined.  The  council  of  minis- 
ters was  assembled,  the  king  dispatched  a  scroll  in 
which  he  overwhelmed  Hirkhouf  with  compliments,  and 
ordered  him  to  bring  his  prisoner  without  delay.  The 
royal  missive  was  later  engraved  in  the  tomb  of  the 
traveller  opposite  Elephantine  !  Pioupi  II  wished  to  give 
his  faithful  subject  a  reward  so  that  in  times  to  come, 
when  speaking  of  the  great  honours  of  which  such  or 
such  a  personage  had  been  the  recipient,  it  might  still 
be  said,  "  They  did  for  him  what  his  Majesty  did  for 
Hirkhouf  when  he  returned  from  his  travels  in  Amami 
with  the  Danga!"  The  pygmies  were  so  wild,  and  fear 
of  losing  them  so  great,  that  the  government  itself 
formulated  the  precautions  to  be  taken  against  their 
escape.  "  When  he  is  with  you  in  the  boat,  arrange 
to  place  watchful  persons  on  each  side  of  the  boat,  so  that 
he  may  not  fall  into  the  water;  arrange  that  watchful 
persons  shall  sleep  at  night  with  him  in  his  bed,  and 
that  they  shall  be  changed  ten  times  each  night."  A 
boat  of  the  royal  fleet  was  put  at  Hirkhouf's  disposal, 
and  all  'the  civil,  military,  and  religious  officials  of  the 
kingdom  were  ordered  to  furnish  him  with  provisions 


To  face  page  20. 


THE  PIGMY  KHNOUMHOTPOU  IN  THE  MUSEUM  AT  CAIRO. 


EXPLORERS  OF  THE  AFRICAN  DESERT    21 

on  his  way.1  The  sands  of  Sakkarah,  which  preserved 
the  mummy  of  Metesouphis  for  us,  still  hide,  perhaps, 
that  of  the  poor  creature  who  so  greatly  amused  his 
successor.  The  Cairo  museum  possesses  the  embalmed 
body  of  one  of  the  favourite  gazelles  of  Queen  Moutem- 
hait;  why  should  it  not  be  enriched  one  day  by  that  of 
the  pygmy  favourite  of  Pioupi  II  ?  Nothing  is  lost  in 
Egypt,  and  research  there  restores  not  only,  as  else- 
where, the  narrative  of  events,  but  also  the  persons  of 
those  who  took  part  in  them ;  both  the  materials  and  the 
heroes  of  history  are  disinterred  from  under  the  ruins. 
Expeditions  like  those  of  Hirkhouf  were  frequent,  and 
produced  more  lasting  results  than  the  capture  of  a 
dancing  pygmy,  and  a  sovereign's  favour  for  a  traveller. 
The  peoples  frequented  by  the  traders  of  Elephantine", 
through  hearing  of  Egypt,  its  industry,  its  wealth,  its 
armies,  ended  by  conceiving  for  her  an  admiration  some- 
what mingled  with  fear;  they  learned  to  consider  her  a 
superior  power,  and  the  Pharaoh  a  god  whom  no  one 
dared  resist.  When,  later,  an  army  commanded  by  the 
Pharaoh  himself  came  against  them,  they  were  prepared 
to  submit ;  once  subdued,  they  rapidly  adopted  the  man- 
ners, costume,  religion,  and  language  of  their  con- 
querors. The  caravans  of  explorers  did  the  pioneer 
work;  the  soldiers  followed  them,  and  formed  the  great 
Egypt  which,  stretching  from  Khartoum  to  the  sea, 
ruled  the  eastern  world  for  more  than  six  centuries. 
We  have  seen  the  same  order  of  events  reproduced  long 
after  in  neighbouring  regions  in  the  case  of  European 
travellers  and  traders. 

1  Inscription  of  Hirkhouf,  D,  I.  1-25. 


Ill 

THE  TOMBS   OF  THEBES 

TOURISTS  in  Egypt  who  spend  at  Thebes  the  three  or 
four  days  arranged  by  the  promoters  of  rapid  travel,  see 
at  least  one  of  the  tombs  hollowed  out  in  the  hills  on  the 
left  bank  of  the  river.  For  this  excursion  the  official 
itinerary  allows  three  or  four  hours  of  an  afternoon 
already  well  filled  with  an  expedition  through  the  Valley 
of  the  Kings,  and  a  luncheon  at  Deir  El-Bahari.  Usu- 
ally Hypogeum  No.  33  is  visited,  that  of  Rakhmiriya, 
and  if  only  the  paintings  could  be  distinguished  it  would 
be  one  of  the  most  interesting;  but  unfortunately  the 
lower  records,  the  only  ones  sufficiently  lighted  by  the 
flame  of  the  candles  or  of  the  smoky  torches,  have  been 
greatly  damaged  by  the  generations  of  fellaheen  who 
turned  these  mortuary  chapels  into  dwelling-rooms. 
Travellers  come  away  with  an  impression  of  splashes 
of  colour,  spread,  as  it  were,  by  chance,  over  dirty  walls, 
diversified  here  and  there  by  columns  of  damaged  hiero- 
glyphics. The  lamentable  spectacle  usually  quenches 
their  curiosity,  and  most  of  them  refuse  to  enter  the  two 
or  three  other  grottoes  of  a  similar  kind  recommended 
to  them  by  their  dragoman.  Those  who  persevere  find 
elsewhere  fresher  tones,  clearer  pictures,  and  scenes 
more  easily  recognizable,  but  there  are  everywhere  enor- 
mous lacunae  which  hinder  them  from  imagining  what 
a  completely  finished  hypogeum  was  like,  or  from  under- 
standing the  decoration.  In  order  to  make  it  intelligible 
as  a  whole,  it  would  be  necessary  to  transcribe  what 

22 


THE    TOMBS   OF   THEBES  23 

remains  in  each,  and,  putting  the  fragments  together,  to 
reconstruct,  piece  by  piece,  the  three  or  four  types  of 
decoration  most  common  in  the  immense  necropolis. 
The  work  not  only  demands  time,  patience,  and  self- 
denial,  but  also  resistance  to  fatigue  and  discouragement. 
The  members  of  the  Cairo  Mission  undertook  the  task, 
some  with  real  enthusiasm,  others  with  praiseworthy 
resignation;  the  twenty  odd  tombs  they  have  so  far 
copied  are  published,  and  the  enormous  service  rendered 
to  science  can  be  judged  from  this  small  sample.1 

Every  one  wished  to  have  a  residence  of  his  own  in 
the  hill  of  Thebes.  The  land  of  the  dead,  like  the  land 
of  the  living,  belonged  to  the  king  and  the  gods,  and 
a  plot  of  ground  there  had  to  be  acquired  for  money 
in  the  same  way  as  the  site  of  a  garden,  a  meadow,  or  a 
corn-field.  The  king  sometimes  granted  a  well-situated 
plot  to  his  servants.  If  he  desired  to  reward  one  of 
them  handsomely,  he  bestowed  on  him  a  slice  of  the  hill, 
or  had  a  chapel,  corridors,  a  vault,  indeed  the  whole 
dwelling  required  for  a  mummy,  hewn  out  at  his  own 
expense.  The  inscriptions  in  such  a  case  told  how  such 
a  one  received  his  sepulchre  by  the  gracious  command 
of  Pharaoh,  and  that  fact  gave  him  a  title  of  honour  with 
posterity.  The  others  applied  to  the  gods,  that  is,  to 
the  temples,  to  negociate  the  purchase  of  an  Eternal 
Home,  and  doubtless  paid  a  high  price.  The  ground 
procured,  they  had  no  need  to  trouble  about  the  architect 
who  should  utilize  it;  it  is  almost  certain  that  most  of 
the  syringes  were  prepared  in  advance  and  already 
hollowed  out  or  even  partly  decorated  at  the  time  of 
purchase.  The  temples  had  companies  of  quarry-men, 
master-masons,  designers,  sculptors,  painters  who 
regularly  worked  for  them,  and  whom  they  placed  at  the 

1  Memoirs  published  by  the  members  of  the  French  Archaeological 
Mission  in  Cairo :  Vol.  v,  Tombeaux  Thebaiens^  published  by  MM. 
Virey,  Bdnedite,  Bouriant,  Boussac,  Maspero. 


24      NEW   LIGHT   ON   ANCIENT   EGYPT 

disposal  of  their  customers.  The  ordinary  tombs  were 
planned  in  one  way  at  the  same  epoch  :  a  straight  fa$ade 
cut  out  in  the  rock  so  as  to  allow  of  a  little  platform  in 
front,  a  low  door,  sometimes  entirely  bare,  sometimes 
flanked  on  either  side  by  a  figure  representing  the  pro- 
prietor, and  a  few  columns  of  hieroglyphics  recording 
his  titles;  beyond,  a  narrow  oblong  chamber  parallel  to 
the  facade;  then,  opposite  the  door,  a  corridor  perpen- 
dicular to  the  chamber,  or  a  second  chamber  terminated 
by  a  niche  containing  one  or  two  statues,  often  sculp- 
tured in  the  rock  itself.  That  was  the  exterior  chapel 
where  the  relatives  came  to  bring  the  votive  offerings 
to  their  dead  on  days  fixed  by  the  ritual.  It  was  closed 
by  a  wooden  door,  which  offered  slight  protection  against 
malefactors  or  the  curious.  The  vault  proper  was  better 
guarded;  it  was  reached  either  by  steep  galleries  which 
penetrated  far  into  the  mountain,  or  by  shafts  hidden 
in  the  ground  of  one  of  the  rooms  or  of  the  platform, 
in  most  unexpected  places  and  easy  of  concealment. 
The  grants  of  land  were  crowded  together,  following  the 
strata  of  the  rock.  Here  might  be  seen  groups  of  five 
or  six;  there,  twenty  or  thirty  in  file;  isolated  grants 
were  rare,  at  least  in  the  centre,  at  Assasif,  Cheikh- 
Abd-el-Gournah,  or  Gournet-Mourrai.  The  hills,  per- 
forated in  every  direction,  seem  to  be  gigantic  hives,  the 
honeycomb  of  which  suddenly  upset  in  confusion  and 
exposed  to  the  light  of  day,  brings  the  half-opened  cells 
to  view.  In  certain  spots  the  galleries  are  so  close  to- 
gether that  the  rock  wall  which  divides  them  measures 
only  something  between  twenty-four  inches  and  eight 
inches.  The  Copt  monks,  who  inhabited  them  from  the 
fifth  century  onwards,  pierced  or  suppressed  the  partition 
walls  in  order  to  facilitate  communication  between  the 
hermitages.  Earthquakes  have  cracked  the  party-walls, 
the  weight  of  the  upper  strata  has  crushed  them,  and  the 
ceiling  has  fallen  in.  Near  Assasif  a  whole  hill  has  thus 


THE    TOMBS   OF   THEBES  25 

given  way,  and  several  portions  of  Cheikh-Abd-el- 
Gournah  appear  to  be  only  awaiting  a  pretext  to  subside, 
through  the  destruction  wrought  by  the  careless  work  of 
men  and  the  imperceptible  wear  and  tear  of  time. 

As  soon  as  the  chambers  were  rough  hewn  by  the 
masons,  the  sculptors  and  painters  appeared  on  the 
scene.  The  hill  of  Thebes,  unlike  that  of  Memphis,  is 
not  of  a  compact  and  smooth  consistency  which  lends 
itself  to  the  chisel.  The  limestone,  even  in  places  where 
the  quality  is  good,  has  been  split  and  broken  in  the 
geological  ages,  and  the  cracks  are  filled  up  with  infiltra- 
tions of  black  or  red  earth ;  it  often  looks  like  a  cake  of 
puff-paste  impregnated  with  chocolate  and  encrusted 
with  enormous  raisins  of  flint.  It  needed  some  skill  to 
manipulate  and  fill  in  the  cracks  and  depressions  of  the 
material  in  order  to  form  a  smooth  surface  on  which  the 
sculptor  could  work  his  reliefs;  a  great  amount  of 
trouble  and  labour  produced  only  a  poor  result  because 
the  coatings  and  slabs  of  limestone  with  which  the  wall 
was  patched  soon  gave  way  and  the  holes  showed 
through  the  decoration.  Therefore  painting  was  often 
substituted  for  what  sculpture  could  only  accomplish 
with  difficulty.  To  render  the  surface  paintable,  it 
was  merely  necessary  to  spread  a  rough  layer  of  black 
clay  or  of  common  earth  mixed  with  straw  over  the 
floor  and  wall,  and  then  to  give  it  a  coat  of  milk  of  lime, 
or  of  white  colour.  Whether  sculptured  or  painted  the 
decoration  never  greatly  varied.  The  artists  to  whom 
it  was  entrusted  possessed  two  or  three  series  of  pictures, 
the  combination  of  which  formed  the  ideal  decoration, 
as  it  were,  of  the  tomb.  The  first  series  comprised  scenes 
from  the  private  or  public  life  of  the  dead  man,  as  well 
as  the  representation  of  the  crafts  needed  to  keep  up  a 
great  house;  the  second  series  showed  the  funeral  rites 
from  the  time  the  corpse  became  a  mummy  until  the 
moment  when  the  gods  of  the  other  world,  Anubis  the 


26       NEW   LIGHT   ON   ANCIENT   EGYPT 

jackal  and  Amentit  the  mistress  of  the  west,  took  posses- 
sion of  the  mummy  wreathed  in  flowers.  Some  showed 
the  ceremonies  performed  on  the  statue  to  accustom 
it  to  receive  the  offerings  and  nourish  the  soul;  others 
presented  to  the  spectators  the  different  destinies  of  the 
human  remains,  its  journeyings  through  the  regions  of 
darkness,  its  struggles  against  infernal  monsters,  its 
happiness  in  the  paradise  of  Osiris  or  on  the  Boat 
of  the  Sun.  Such  decoration  in  its  entirety  would 
have  required  miles  of  wall  space;  therefore  only  frag- 
ments of  it  are  to  be  found.  The  Pharaohs,  even, 
flinched  at  the  expense,  and  contented  themselves  with 
the  most  important  parts.  Rich  men  obtained  some 
hundreds  of  yards,  and  as  the  ladder  of  fortune  was 
descended,  the  space  became  restricted.  The  ordinary 
tomb  would  comprise  only  a  sort  of  epitome,  always 
conceived  in  the  same  terms  unless  the  customer  or 
his  family  expressed  a  desire  for  the  substitution  of 
some  particular  conception,  or  some  particular  picture. 
There  is  not  the  slightest  difficulty  in  reconstructing  the 
tomb  even  in  the  smallest  details  :  the  plates  published 
by  the  members  of  the  Cairo  Mission  would  enable  a 
mason  and  a  painter  accustomed  to  deal  with  buildings 
to  erect  it,  if  they  so  desired,  in  a  corner  of  Paris  exactly 
as  it  was. 

The  choice  of  subjects  was  not  left,  however,  to  the 
caprice  of  the  undertakers  or  their  employers;  it  corre- 
sponded to  the  needs  of  the  Theban  soul  and  to  the 
prevailing  idea  of  posthumous  existence.  The  soul  was 
nourished  on  votive  offerings  and  absorbed  their  sub- 
stance at  first  in  reality,  and  then,  when  the  rapidity 
with  which  new  generations  forgot  the  old  ones  was 
perceived,  in  symbol.  The  limestone  or  wooden  figure 
of  an  animal  or  of  a  loaf  of  bread,  the  drawing  of  the 
same  animal  or  loaf  traced  on  the  wall  of  the  hypogeum, 
and  endowed  by  the  prayers  of  consecration  with  a  sort 


THE    TOMBS   OF   THEBES  27 

of  mysterious  vitality,  represented  for  the  shade,  the 
soul,  the  double  dwelling  in  the  bottom  of  the  vault,  the 
living  animal  or  the  kneaded  and  baked  wheaten  loaf. 
The  designer  had  then  to  choose  from  his  sketch-books 
one  of  the  many  motives  dealing  with  alimentation. 
Did  the  dead  man  desire  bread  ?  The  artist  would  sketch 
the  field  and  the  canals  by  which  it  was  irrigated,  the 
oxen  drawing  the  plough  and  the  sower  scattering  the 
seed;  then  the  harvest,  and  the  reapers,  scythe  in  hand, 
cutting  the  corn,  the  threshing  of  the  ears,  the  grain 
stored  in  the  granary.  The  vines  were  represented  on 
a  panel  of  the  wall  at  the  side,  with  the  gathering  of 
the  grapes,  the  wine-pressing  and  the  pouring  of  the 
unfermented  liquor  into  jars.  The  dead  man  assisted  in 
these  labours  in  company  with  his  wife,  dressed  in  new 
clothes  and  wearing  a  new  wig  as  on  the  days  of  his 
earthly  harvests;  everything  represented  in  the  fresco 
belonged  to  him,  and  his  soul,  in  contemplating  the 
representation  of  the  objects,  secured  their  effective  pos- 
session. The  soul  composed  its  bill  of  fare  from  the 
pictures  with  which  the  tomb  was  painted,  and  by  virtue 
of  formulas,  the  images  became  materialized  to  provide 
it  with  food,  and  yet  were  never  destroyed  nor  diminished. 
Elsewhere  might  be  represented  the  hunting  of  the  river 
fowl  or  of  the  desert  animals,  fishing  in  the  marshes,  all 
the  pleasures  which,  loved  of  the  Egyptian,  not  only 
afforded  him  distraction  from  the  toils  of  existence,  but 
were  also  profitable ;  the  fish  were  split  open,  cured,  and 
preserved  in  his  presence  in  the  picture,  and  formed  a 
reserve  to  which  he  could  turn  when  he  was  tired  of 
game  or  meat.  The  left  wall  of  the  chapel  sufficed  to 
contain  these  rural  episodes.  On  the  right  the  master 
of  the  tomb  was  seated  with  his  wife,  and  received 
from  the  hands  of  his  children  the  meal  prepared 
from  the  produce  of  his  labours  and  of  his  excursions 
into  the  desert.  The  provisions  were  spread  before 


28       NEW   LIGHT   ON   ANCIENT   EGYPT 

him  in  bowls,  in  rush  baskets,  on  small  tables,  on  terra- 
cotta dishes,  on  mats  of  esparto  grass;  nothing  that  is 
eaten  in  Egypt  was  wanting :  grapes,  figs,  cucumbers, 
water-melons,  the  onions  that  the  Hebrews  regretted  at 
Sinai,  weakly  cabbages,  chickens,  gazelles'  legs,  calves' 
heads,  cutlets,  and  scattered  among  them  many  differ- 
ent kinds  of  bread  and  cakes.  Meanwhile  half-naked 
dancing  girls  turned  and  twisted  on  the  wall  in  their 
amorous  dances,  like  the  almehs  of  our  day ;  flutes  trilled, 
tambourines  boomed,  the  harpist  invited  the  dead  master 
and  the  survivors  to  "  spend  a  happy  day,"  for  nothing 
endures  in  this  world,  and  "  bodies  are  born  only  to 
live  while  the  gods  decree.  The  sun  rises  in  the  morning 
and  sets  in  the  evening,  men  procreate  and  women  bear 
children,"  and  generations  pass  away  one  after  the  other 
without  keeping  any  of  the  worldly  goods  they  pos- 
sessed. "  Forgetting  all  ills,  oh  Nofirhotpou,  wise 
priest  with  pure  hands,  think  only  of  the  happiness  of 
the  day  when  thou  shalt  reach  the  land  which  loves 
silence,  and  that  notwithstanding,  the  heart  of  the  son 
who  loves  thee  shall  not  cease  to  beat !  .  .  .  Obey  thy 
desires,  and  seek  thy  happiness  so  long  as  thou 
remainest  on  the  earth,  wear  not  thy  heart  in  repining 
until  the  day  comes  when  the  impassive  god  hearkens 
not  to  those  who  implore  from  him  a  longer  period  of 
life.  The  lamentations  of  his  friends  do  not  help  a  man 
to  be  consoled  in  the  tomb.  Spend  a  happy  day  and 
enjoy  it  to  thy  utmost.  For,  verily,  no  man  carries 
his  possessions  with  him  when  he  dies;  verily,  no  one 
who  has  departed  this  life  has  ever  returned."  1 

The  most  characteristic  example  of  this  type  is  in  the 
tomb  of  Nakhouiti  ;2  there  is  nothing  more  delicate,  more 

1  G.  Be'ne'dite  :  "  Le  Tombeau  de  Nofirhotpou,"  MJmotres,  V,  529- 

599- 

2  G.  Maspero:  "Le  Tombeau  de  Nakhouiti,"  M<bnoires,  V,  469- 

585. 


THE    TOMBS    OF   THEBES  29 

elegant,  more  coquettish,  even,  nothing  that  savours 
less  of  the  charnel-house  than  this  little  chamber  with 
its  variegated  ceiling  and  its  walls  covered  with  graceful 
little  figures,  picked  out  in  bright  colours.  It  is  to  be 
regretted  that  it  cannot  be  reproduced  in  colour,  and 
that  we  must  be  contented  with  a  black-and-white  print 
of  the  whole  and  with  photographs  of  the  principal 
scenes.  The  other  tombs  described  in  the  volume  belonged 
to  persons  of  high  rank,  chief  ministers  of  Pharaoh, 
nobles  of  Thebes,  one  of  them  lord  of  Aphroditespolis 
the  Little,  between  Siout  and  Abydos.1  They  have 
suffered  terribly,  and  what  has  been  saved  of  the  in- 
scriptions is  extremely  confused.  Rakhmiriya,  who 
lived  under  Thoutmosis  III,  before  the  fifteenth  century 
B.C.,  was  pleased  to  transmit  to  us,  in  long  orations 
the  most  circumstantial  information  about  his  adminis- 
trative career ;  had  the  inscriptions  come  down  to  us  intact 
we  should  know  how  justice  was  administered  at  Thebes, 
but,  as  always,  the  lacunae  in  the  text  occur  at  the 
most  interesting  places,  and  we  remain  in  ignorance.2 
Mankhopirriya,  Harmhabi,  and  several  others  exercised 
functions  at  the  War  Office,  and  presided,  each  in  one 
district,  at  the  recruiting  of  the  troops.  On  the  walls 
of  their  tombs  bands  of  conscripts  may  be  seen  to  arrive, 
give  their  names  to  the  scribes  ordered  to  register  them, 
take  their  rations  and  their  arms  for  the  campaign; 
further  on,  chariots  are  being  made  and  the  horses  har- 
nessed to  them.  But  unhappily,  the  design  is  rubbed  in 
places,  or  intelligent  tourists  have  carried  off  a  piece  of 
the  picture,  and  a  half-dozen  similar  tombs  would  have  to 
be  cleared  from  rubbish  and  described  in  order  to  com- 
plete our  knowledge  of  Egyptian  military  procedure.3 

1  G.  Maspero  :  "  Le  Tombeau  de  Montouhikhopshouf,"  Mtmoires, 
V,  433-468. 

8  Philippe  Virey  :  "  Le  Tombeau  de  Rekhmara,"  Mtmoires,  V, 
1-195. 

3  U.  Bouriant :  "  Le  Tombeau  d'Harmhabi,"  Mtmoires,  V,  419  et  seq. 


30       NEW   LIGHT   ON  ANCIENT  EGYPT 

Elsewhere,  Nofirhotpou,  having  deserved  well  of  Pha- 
raoh, is  summoned  to  receive  from  his  Majesty's  hands 
the  decoration  of  the  Gold  Collar.  One  fine  morning  at 
the  conclusion  of  the  service  of  Amon  in  the  temple  of 
Karnak,  the  king  summons  him,  and  from  the  dais 
addresses  a  well-turned  compliment  to  him  while  a 
couple  of  chamberlains  fasten  the  collar  round  the  for- 
tunate personage's  neck  :  he  had  desired  the  scene  to  be 
pictorially  recorded  in  his  tomb  in  order  that  posterity 
might  not  ignore  what  a  great  man  he  was,  and  thus  we 
may  learn  how  the  son  of  the  Sun  conferred  honours  on 
his  servants.1  To  each  of  them  occurred  the  excellent 
idea  of  choosing  for  his  last  dwelling-place  a  different 
type  of  decoration,  and  thanks  to  that  fact  we  learn  the 
detail  of  the  ceremonies  which  accompany  either  the 
laying  in  the  tomb  or  the  annual  sacrifices.  We  per- 
ceive in  them  a  singularity  and  a  barbarity  strange  in 
so  civilized  a  people  as  the  Egyptians.  A  widespread 
belief  compelled  the  souls  to  leave  the  valley  of  the  Nile 
by  a  fixed  road  to  the  west  of  Abydos.  A  chasm,  a 
gorge  occurred  in  the  Libyan  mountains  by  which  they 
passed  first  to  the  Great  Oasis,  which  was  one  of  their 
primitive  abiding-places,2  and  then  to  the  slopes  of  the 
western  mountain,  to  the  point  where  the  Boat  of  the 
Sun  penetrates  the  caves  of  darkness.  They  all  per- 
formed this  lugubrious  pilgrimage;  they  went  from 
their  town,  that  is  from  their  tomb,  to  the  entrance  of 
the  chasm,  and  thence  into  the  other  world  with  their 
train  of  servants,  herds,  and  provisions.  The  journey 
was  made  by  water,  and  to  render  it  easier  the  Egyp- 
tians often  placed  properly  equipped  little  boats  of 
painted  wood  beside  the  coffin,  and  various  little  figures 

1  G.  Bdnedite :   "Le  Tombeau    de    Nofirhotpou,"  Mtmoires^  V, 
496-501,  and  Pt.  V. 

2  G.  Maspero:  Melanges  de  Mythologie  et  (FArchtologie,  II,  421  - 
427. 


THE    TOMBS   OF    THEBES  31 

representing  the  defunct  and  his  family.  Every  year  on 
the  solemn  festivals  of  the  dead,  especially  on  that  of  the 
Ouagait,  there  was  dispatched  to  every  one  in  the  other 
•world  a  fresh  provision  of  corn,  beasts,  and  servants. 
On  the  eve  of  this  Egyptian  All  Saints'  Day,  one  of 
the  miniature  boats  was  equipped,  the  sails  were  hoisted, 
and  after  prayers  had  been  said  over  it,  it  set  out  for 
Abydos,  which  it  soon  reached  with  its  cargo,  and  with 
the  news  of  what  had  happened  in  the  family  during  the 
year.1 

All  the  rites  were  not  equally  innocent.  A  series  of 
mysterious  episodes,  which  may  be  traced  in  the  finished 
portions  of  the  hypogeum  of  Montouhikhopshouf,  a  noble 
of  Aphroditespolis  the  Little,  relates  to  human  sacrifice. 
The  victims  may  be  seen  carried  on  a  sledge,  then 
strangled,  and  perhaps  afterwards  burnt  with  the  oxen, 
the  cakes,  and  the  other  votive  offerings  in  a  fire  lighted 
opposite  the  tomb.  Was  it  an  actual  fact  or  merely  an 
imaginary  episode?  It  is  certain  that  in  early  times 
the  throats  of  the  prince's  or  noble's  favourites  were  cut 
on  the  day  of  the  funeral  so  that  they  might  serve  their 
master  in  the  House  of  Eternity  as  they  had  in  his 
earthly  house ;  later,  real  people  were  replaced  by  differ- 
ent kinds  of  statues  and  statuettes,  the  best  known  of 
which  are  the  stone,  wooden,  or  enamelled  earthen  dolls, 
hundreds  of  which  are  in  our  museums.  Scenes  copied 
from  several  tombs  lead  us  to  think  that  at  the  historical 
epoch  human  sacrifice  was  only  a  pretence  practised  on 
a  statue  or  on  a  special  person,  the  tikanou  who  played 
his  part  in  the  funerals  of  the  rich,  and  was  strangled 
several  times  a  year  without  coming  to  much  harm.  But 
it  is  possible  that  relatives,  more  grieved  than  others, 
wished,  perhaps,  to  bestow  on  him  they  mourned  the 
satisfaction  of  taking  away  with  him  to  the  next  world 

1  G.  Maspero  :  Eludes  Egyptiennes,  I,  pp.  132-399  ;  cf.  G.  Ben^dite  : 
"  Le  Tombeau  de  Nofirhotpou,"  M/moires,  V,  pp.  520-21,  and  pi.  III. 


32       NEW   LIGHT   ON   ANCIENT   EGYPT 

the  souls  of  slaves  who  had  been  actually  killed  .*  The 
Pharaohs  murdered  the  hostile  princes  they  took  in 
war  before  the  god  Amon,  and  they  commemorated  the 
execution  accomplished  with  their  own  hands,  to  the 
chanting  of  the  priests,  on  the  walls  of  the  temples  and 
the  faces  of  the  pylons.  Human  sacrifice  was  an  ex- 
ception in  their  life,  but  they  performed  it  without  more 
scruple  than  the  Roman  generals  who  later  concluded 
the  ceremonies  of  the  triumph  with  the  death  of  the 
chiefs  they  had  marched  through  the  city.  Egypt,  even 
that  of  the  Thoutmosis  and  Ramses,  was  still  too  close 
to  barbarism  for  the  bloody  ceremonials  to  have  entirely 
disappeared.  Time  and  the  advance  of  civilization  had 
banished  them  from  everyday  life,  but  they  remained 
within  the  law,  and  no  blame  would  attach  to  any  one 
who  restored  them. 

1  G.  Maspero :  "  Le  Tombeau  de  Montouhikhopshouf,"  Mttmotres, 
V,  452-456. 


IV 

NAVILLE  AND   BUBASTIS 

FOR  fourteen  years  Naville  has  most  thoroughly 
scoured  Egypt  partly  for  his  own  pleasure  and  in- 
struction, partly  for  an  English  Archaeological  Society, 
the  Egypt  Exploration  Fund.  He  has  made  some  of 
the  most  important  discoveries  of  these  last  years,1  and 
has  published  half-a-dozen  volumes  which  will  always 
be  models  for  an  explorer's  book.  The  progress  of 
operations  is  described  with  absolute  clearness  and 
honesty,  the  results  of  other  explorers  are  noted  at 
their  full  value,  new  historical  or  archaeological  facts  are 
briefly,  boldly,  and  sincerely  set  forth.  Let  us  add  that 
he  has  in  his  own  family  an  admirable  draughtsman 
who  transcribes  the  texts  and  monuments  with  a  faithful 
and  vigorous  hand.  Students  have  not  been  slow  to  ap- 
preciate this  rare  combination  of  qualities,  and  they 
give  Naville  a  very  high  place  among  Egyptologists. 
The  general  public,  less  sensible  of  merits  that  are  not 
loudly  proclaimed,  has  ended  by  recognizing  the  full 
worth  of  a  man  who  cares  more  to  do  his  work  well 
than  to  draw  attention  to  it.  The  name  of  Naville  carries 
weight  with  the  public. 

One  of  the  characteristics  of  the  man  is  his  eager- 
ness to  prosecute  apparently  -barren  labours  that  skilled 
experts  prefer  to  avoid.  In  Egypt,  as  in  all  ancient 
lands,  there  are  sites  on  which  some  important  find  is 
sure  to  be  made,  provided  that  excavations  are  carried 

1  This  was  written  in  1894  (Tr.  note). 
3  33 


34       NEW   LIGHT   ON   ANCIENT   EGYPT 

on  for  a  long  enough  time  or  that  there  is  enough  money 
to  ensure  the  employment  of  a  large  number  of  work- 
men. An  explorer  must  be  either  awkward  or  unlucky 
to  dig  unsuccessfully  at  Thebes  or  in  the  neighbour- 
hood of  Memphis.  Such  a  mass  of  objects  have  been 
buried  there  from  century  to  century  that  a  notable 
proportion  has  perforce  escaped  the  depredations  of 
ancient  and  modern  thieves :  the  number  of  chances  of 
coming  upon  still  intact  remains  in  digging  at  hazard 
a  fixed  number  of  holes,  might  be  calculated  almost 
to  a  certainty.  Other  localities  are  reputed  to  be  very 
poor,  and  attract  less  attention.  What  traveller  would 
of  his  own  free  will  stay  at  Tell-Bastah  ?  and  how  many 
of  the  thousands  of  tourists  who  traverse  the  valley  of 
the  Nile  suspect  the  existence  of  Henassieh  ?  Bubastis 
and  Heracleopolis  Magna  were,  however,  powerful  cities, 
and  they  supplied  reigning  dynasties  to  the  Egypt  of  the 
Pharaohs :  but  the  masters  of  the  country  wrought 
such  destruction  on  them  that  their  monuments  are  in 
fragments,  or  scarcely  visible  above  the  surface  of  the 
ground.  The  few  Europeans  who  visit  them  perceive 
huge  mounds,  out  of  which  a  few  pieces  of  walls  are 
sticking,  scattered  stones,  stumps  of  columns,  and  the 
multitude  of  variegated  fragments  that  inundate  the 
sites  of  ancient  cities.  The  aspect  is  not  inviting;  it 
offers  scarcely  any  likelihood  of  furnishing  a  complete 
building,  intact  statues,  or  one  of  the  triumphant  in- 
scriptions that  narrate  the  whole  life  of  a  king  or  the 
events  of  an  obscure  epoch.  To  derive  any  profit  we 
need  all  kinds  of  solid  virtues  such  as  most  of  us  acquire 
but  slowly;  in  order  to  find  our  way  about  the  debris 
accumulated  by  a  hundred  successive  generations  we  re- 
quire great  skill  in  reading  the  ground,  perseverance,  tact, 
and  intimate  acquaintance  with  history  and  archaeology. 
Naville  has,  as  it  were,  made  a  speciality  of  these  dis- 
couraging localities,  and  has  forced  them  to  reveal  to 


NAVILLE   AND   BUBASTIS  35 

him  what  they  had  hitherto  concealed.  He  has  attacked 
one  after  the  other,  the  Wady  Toumilat,1  Saft-el-Hineh, 
the  land  of  Goshen,2  and  has  found,  one  after  the  other, 
the  Pithom  of  the  Bible,  the  Onias  of  the  Maccabees,3 
the  Heroopolis  of  the  Roman  itineraries,  the  fortresses 
that  the  Ptolemies  placed  at  intervals  along  the  Salt 
Lakes  then  in  communication  with  the  Red  Sea.  Tell- 
Bastah  and  Henassieh  are  the  two  last  heaps  of  ruins 
that  he  explored  in  the  Delta  and  in  Middle  Egypt 
before  moving  his  workshop  to  Thebes,  to  the  celebrated 
temple  of  Deir  El-Bahari. 

When  Herodotus  visited  it,  Bubastis  presented  a 
paradoxical  appearance.  It  had  been  continually  built 
and  rebuilt  on  a  very  contracted  site,  and  had  gradually 
been  raised  up  while  the  temple  remained  at  its  primitive 
level :  it  was,  so  to  speak,  at  the  bottom  of  an  oblong 
basin,  the  houses  running  round  the  rim.4  The  cat  god- 
dess who  was  worshipped  there  held  festivals  of  a  pro- 
verbial gaiety,  to  which  people  came  from  all  parts  of 
the  valley.  Pilgrims,  both  men  and  women,  crowded 
the  boats,  and  the  way  was  one  perpetual  masquerade. 
Each  time  they  came  alongside  the  quay,  the  women 
disembarked  with  a  loud  noise  of  castanets  and  flutes, 
and  went  to  arouse  the  matrons  of  the  place,  frolicking 
about  and  tucking  up  their  skirts  in  eager  rivalry.  To 
strangers  the  function  did  not  seem  to  differ  much 
from  other  Egyptian  celebrations,  a  procession  with 
hymns  and  sacrifices.  But  during  the  few  preceding  or 
following  days,  Bubastis  was  the  scene  of  extraordinary 


1  E.  Naville  :  The  Store-City  of  Pithom  and  the  Route  of  the  Exodus, 
1883-1884,  London.     The  book  reached  its  fourth  edition  in  twenty 
years,  an  unusual  success  for  a  purely  archaeological  work. 

2  E.  Naville  :  Goshen  and  the  Shrine  of  Saft-el-Hineh,  1886-1887, 
London.     This  book  is  in  its  second  edition. 

3  E.  Naville  and  LI.  Griffith  :  The  City  of  Onias  and  the  Mound  of 
the  Jews,  1888-1889,  London. 

4  Herodotus,  II.  cxxxviii. 


36       NEW   LIGHT    ON   ANCIENT   EGYPT 

rejoicings.  '  The  gods  of  heaven  rejoiced,  the  ancestors 
diverted  themselves,  those  who  were  present  became 
drunk  with  wine,  their  heads  were  crowned  with 
flowers,  the  populace  ran  gaily  to  and  fro,  their  heads 
streaming  with  perfume,  in  honour  of  the  goddess ;  the 
children  gambolled  from  sunrise  to  sunset." 1  The 
inhabitants  proudly  reckoned  that  more  wine  was  drunk 
in  a  single  day  than  during  the  whole  of  the  rest  of  the 
year.2  The  fair  has  emigrated  to  the  neighbouring  city 
of  Tantah,  where  the  Mahommedan  Egyptians  offer  the 
sheikh  Sidi-Ahmed-El-Bedaoui  the  same  homage  of 
prayer  and  disorder  as  their  pagan  ancestors  gave  to 
Bastit,  the  cat  goddess.  The  town,  wholly  deserted,  cor- 
responds very  well  to  the  description  Herodotus  gave  of 
it :  the  ruins  of  the  houses  crown  a  hollow  at  the  bottom 
of  which  a  few  heaps  of  stones  mark  what  remains  of  the 
temple.  The  aspect  is  so  uninviting  that  Mariette,  after 
working  there  a  few  days,  despaired  of  rinding  anything 
to  reward  him  for  his  pains.  For  a  long  series  of  years 
Tell-Bastah  was  abandoned  to  the  mercy  of  sebakh 3 
diggers,  who  occasionally  came  upon  scarabs,  enamelled 
earthen  figures,  jewellery,  and,  lastly,  the  thousands  of 
bronze  cats  which  appeared  on  the  market  from  1880  to 
1890.  Such  excavations  convinced  Naville  that  deeper 
down  more  ancient  debris  would  be  found  than  had  been 
hitherto  believed;  he  resolutely  set  to  work,  and  two 
laborious  campaigns  sufficed  to  lay  bare  the  levellings 
of  the  temple. 

At  first  sight  it  did  not  seem  to  offer  much  :  not  a 
wall,  a  column,  or  a  statue  was  intact.  Everywhere  there 
lay  enormous  stones  worked  on  each  face  with  car- 
touches, emblems,  mutilated  figures,  broken  portions  of 

1  Diimichen  :  Bauurkunden  der  Tempelanlagen  von  Dandera,  p.  21. 

2  Herodotus,  II.  Ix. 

3  The  saline  dust  of  decomposing  bricks  used  by  the  fellaheen  as 
manure. 


NAVILLE   AND   BUBASTIS  37 

texts.  The  materials  had  been  employed  over  and  over 
again  in  those  far-off  times,  and  the  face,  already  in- 
scribed, was  turned  round  so  that  new  kings  might  be 
commemorated  on  the  other  side.  It  was  easy  to  see 
that  the  temple  had  been  rebuilt  by  Cheops  and 
Chephren,  the  most  illustrious  Pharaohs  of  the  IVth 
Dynasty;  that  those  of  the  Xllth  had  enlarged  and 
restored  it;  that,  half-destroyed  in  the  times  of  the 
Shepherd  Kings,  the  conquerors  of  the  XlXth  Dynasty 
had  lavishly  repaired  it,  and  lastly,  the  XXIInd  Dynasty, 
native  to  the  place,  greatly  extended  the  buildings. 
But  when  its  history  was  thus  determined,  what  means 
was  there  of  reconstructing  the  different  buildings  in 
imagination  and  of  piecing  together  the  decoration  that 
covered  their  surfaces?  Naville  turned  the  blocks 
strewn  over  the  ground  on  all  sides,  and  copied  them 
in  detail ;  then  he  put  all  the  copies  together,  and  with 
patience  succeeded  in  combining  the  fragments  so  as 
to  restore  figures,  scenes,  inscriptions,  sometimes  whole 
panels.  It  is  necessary  to  have  oneself  undertaken  a 
similar  task  to  understand  the  great  effort  and  the 
amount  of  work  that  the  two  years  of  his  life  at  Bubastis 
cost  him.  Two  volumes  contain  the  definite  result :  the 
first  gives  the  general  description  of  the  temple ; 1  the 
second  the  theoretical  reconstruction  of  a  courtyard  and 
of  a  monumental  door  on  which  festivals  of  a  particular 
kind  were  represented.2  The  work  is  so  far  unique  in 
Egyptology;  the  material  is  so  vast,  and  the  workmen 
so  few,  that  temples  as  ruined  and  defaced  as  that  of 
Bubastis  have  nearly  always  been  neglected.  Build- 
ings are  preferred  which  are  more  easily  attacked  and 
the  ruins  of  which  preserve  a  continuous  context.  But 
the  fellaheen  break  the  stones  in  order  to  make  them 

1  Bubastis,  1889-1890,  with  fifty-four  plates  and  plans. 

2  The  Festival  Hall  of  Osorkon  II  in  the  Great  Temple  of  Rubastis, 
with  thirty-nine  plates. 


38       NEW   LIGHT   ON   ANCIENT   EGYPT 

into  lime  or  to  sell  the  pieces  to  tourists.  Many  monu- 
ments valuable  for  history  and  art  have  thus  disappeared 
which  might  have  been  saved  if  all  students  of  Egypt- 
ology had  displayed  a  perseverance  equal  to  that  of 
Naville. 

Nothing  is  more  curious  than  the  restored  Festival- 
Hall.  It  was  built  by  Osorkon  II  about  the  middle  of 
the  ninth  century  B.C.,  and  commemorated,  if  not  the 
anniversary  of  his  accession,  that  of  his  deification.  It 
represents  the  sovereign  and  the  priests  of  Amon,  and 
the  priesthood  of  the  Egyptian  towns,  and  the  numerous 
actors  who  took  part  in  the  greater  ceremonies,  nobles, 
soldiers,  slaves,  men  and  women  of  the  people.  Osor- 
kon II  comes  out  of  his  palace  to  go  to  the  temple,  he 
enters  the  sanctuary,  and  sees  his  father  Amon  face  to 
face,  who  assures  him  of  his  paternal  love,  blesses  him, 
embraces  him,  introduces  him  to  the  immortals.  The 
sovereign,  about  to  become  a  god  in  his  turn,  receives 
the  homage  of  his  brother  gods,  and  the  prayers  of 
mortals.  The  procession  moves  on,  accompanied  by 
the  plaudits  of  the  crowd;  here  the  soldiers  execute 
war-dances;  there  dwarfs  or  negroes  make  countless 
grimaces,  contort  themselves  in  endless  ways  while  the 
spectators  encourage  them  by  their  cries.  The  proces- 
sion returns  to  the  palace  with  as  much  pomp  as  it  set 
out,  and  while  Osorkon,  fatigued  but  deified,  gives  a 
banquet  to  the  persons  of  the  court,  the  town  continues 
its  diversions  far  into  the  night.  It  is  not  the  fair  of 
which  Herodotus  writes,  the  preparations  for  which  he 
has  so  well  described,  but  we  cannot  help  thinking  that 
the  spectacle  of  which  the  Greek  traveller  caught  a 
glimpse  must  have  closely  resembled  the  varied  episodes 
of  that  which  we  can  follow  on  the  walls  of  the  pylon 
designed  by  Madame  Naville.  The  Egypt  that  its  mum- 
mies lead  us  to  regard  as  morose  and  gloomy  was  one  of 
the  gayest  countries  of  antiquity.  The  fellaheen,  then 


NAVILLE   AND   BUBASTIS  39 

as  now,  possessed  a  spirit  of  irony  and  quickness  of 
repartee;  they  laughed  easily,  and  rapidly  forgot  the 
griefs  and  annoyances  of  daily  life.  It  did  not  take 
much  to  amuse  them,  and  like  children  they  were  easily 
pleased  with  little  things. 

The  religious  fervour  and  the  acclamations  with  which 
they  saluted  the  statues  and  the  sacred  sarcophagi  that 
defiled  before  them,  did  not  prevent  them  from  observ- 
ing and  appreciating  the  grotesque  incidents  which 
invariably  occur  even  in  the  best  ordered  ceremonials  : 
a  slip  of  one  of  those  carrying  the  offerings,  or  the  con- 
tortions of  the  negro  dancers  were  received  with  great 
shouts  of  laughter  arid  all  sorts  of  buffoonery,  which  the 
legends,  engraved  above  the  groups,  record  for  our 
edification.  No  one  feared  to  take  liberties  with  a 
divinity  in  whom  faith  was  so  strong ;  no  one  felt  obliged 
to  pull  a  long  face,  or  to  assume  an  unnatural  serious- 
ness in  order  to  testify  his  reverence :  it  was  not  con- 
sidered a  slight  to  the  gods  to  laugh  in  their  presence  or 
during  their  public  processions. 

Has  Heracleopolis  really  left  fewer  traces  than  Bubas- 
tis?  It  would  be  unwise  to  say  so.  Immense  mounds 
are  scattered  over  the  site  it  occupied,  on  which  stand 
the  different  villages  that  form  the  modern  city  of 
Henassieh.  A  row  of  big  columns,  which  belonged  to 
a  Roman  or  Byzantine  basilica,  can  just  be  seen  above 
the  ground;  but  besides  those  only  quite  unimportant 
lines  of  brick  walls.  The  area  is  so  large  that  many 
thousand  pounds  would  be  required  to  excavate  it 
wholly;  the  monuments  might  be  concealed  for  months 
or  years,  and  the  explorer's  patience  would  be  exhausted 
before  he  had  reached  the  end  of  his  excavations. 
Naville  only  made  a  few  slight  excavations  on  the  site, 
but  the  little  he  did  deserves  to  be  mentioned.  What 
interests  us  in  Heracleopolis  is  that  it  served  as  the 
capital  of  Egypt  during  the  first  half  of  what  is  called 


40       NEW   LIGHT   ON   ANCIENT   EGYPT 

the  Middle  Empire.  Two  dynasties,  the  IXth  and  the 
Xth,  came  from  it,  and  the  first  of  the  great  Theban 
Dynasties,  the  Xllth  and  XHIth,  resided  within  its 
walls  or  at  the  entrance  of  Fayoum  on  its  territory. 
Those  Pharaohs  embellished  it  with  important  build- 
ings, and  the  inscriptions  tell  us  that  they  brought  the 
granite  or  basalt  needed  by  the  architects  from  the 
desert  situated  between  the  Nile  and  the  Red  Sea. 
There  was  then  a  chance  of  finding  some  traces  of  those 
princes  and  their  works  amid  the  ruins,  and  Naville 
actually  disinterred  several  fine  architraves,  the  inscrip- 
tions of  which  contain  the  name  of  Ousirtasen  II.  Un- 
fortunately, Heracleopolis  suffered  greatly  during  the 
civil  wars,  and  its  temples  were  repeatedly  pulled  down 
and  destroyed.  Ramses  II  gave  to  Arsaphes,  the  great- 
est of  them,  the  form  it  kept  until  the  introduction  of 
Christianity.  He  utilized  the  columns  cut  by  his  pre- 
decessors of  the  Xllth  Dynasty,  and  his  name  is  almost 
the  only  one  in  the  inscriptions  copied  by  Naville.1  The 
vestibule  remains ;  the  chambers  and  the  sanctuary  have 
almost  completely  disappeared.  The  old  Pharaohs 
preferred  the  fine  white  limestone  that  lends  itself  so 
admirably  to  sculpture,  but  which  furnishes  inimitable 
lime-wash.  The  Copts  and  then  the  Arabs  demolished 
and  calcined  piece  by  piece  everything  built  of  lime- 
stone. The  history  inscribed  on  the  walls  vanished  in 
smoke,  or  was  spread  in  whitewash  on  the  fellaheen's 
huts. 

Naville  has  since  spent  two  years  in  the  valley  of  Delr 
El-Bahari.  He  recently  sent  photographs  showing  the 
point  reached  in  his  task  to  the  Academy  of  Inscriptions, 
of  which  he  is  a  correspondent.  This  time  it  is  not  a 
matter  of  piecing  fragments  together,  but  of  clearing 

1  E.  Naville:  Ahnas  el  Medinek  {Heracleopolis  Magna),  with 
Chapters  on  Mendes^  the  Nome  of  Thoth  and  Leontopolis,  London, 
1891-1892. 


NAVILLE   AND   BUBASTIS  41 

away  the  rubbish  from  an  edifice  which  is  almost  intact, 
an  undertaking  similar  to  the  clearing  of  Abydos, 
Denderah,  Louxor  and  Edfou.  The  early  kings  of  the 
XVIIIth  Dynasty  chose  the  bottom  of  the  amphitheatre 
in  which  to  build  a  funerary  chapel.  Thoutmosis  I 
began  it,  Thoutm6sis  II  continued  it,  the  Queen 
Hatshopsouitou  and  Thoutmosis  III  finished  it.  It 
was  a  temple  with  several  tiers  of  terraces  resting  against 
the  sides  of  the  hill.  The  porticoes  are  supported  by 
columns  with  sixteen  angles,  topped  with  a  simple 
abacus  of  a  beauty  of  proportion  and  an  elegance  of 
curve  unusual  even  in  the  best  periods  of  Egyptian  art. 
The  sculptures  with  which  the  walls  are  covered  equal 
the  finest  bas-reliefs  of  the  temple  of  Setoui  I,  and  are 
perhaps  even  of  a  freer  and  firmer  sweep.  It  is  too  soon 
as  yet  to  judge  the  aspect  that  the  monument  will  pre- 
sent when  Naville  has  finished  removing  the  sand  which 
buries  it  in  places  up  to  the  architrave,  and  hides  the 
approaches.  But  as  much  as  is  already  visible  possesses 
a  beauty  and  a  charm  usually  lacking  in  the  Egypt  of 
the  Pharaohs. 


V 

SYRIA  FROM  THE  EIGHTEENTH  TO  THE  FOURTEENTH 
CENTURY  B.C.  AS  IT  APPEARS  IN  THE  EGYPTIAN 
MONUMENTS 

THE  geography  of  the  "  monuments  "  leaves  a  wide 
vacuum  between  Assyria  and  Egypt.  The  prosperous, 
turbulent  races  of  Phoenicia,  Philistia,  Canaan, 
Amorrhea,  Northern  Syria,  and  Cilicia  had  no  liking  for 
spacious  buildings,  and  deemed  it  useless  to  adorn  their 
temples  and  palaces  with  the  profusion  of  inscriptions 
and  bas-reliefs  that  make  the  ruins  of  Nineveh  and 
Thebes  a  sort  of  paradise  for  the  archaeologist.  They 
wrote  little  on  stone,  they  sculptured  still  less,  and  if 
they  had  always  been  strong  enough  to  preserve  their 
independence  we  should  know  little  of  their  history  or 
even  of  their  names.  But  they  were  intelligent  enough 
to  let  themselves  be  often  beaten,  and  to  provide  the 
Pharaohs  and  the  Assyrian  kings  with  matter  for 
numerous  victories;  their  defeats  are  recorded  on  both 
sides  of  the  isthmus,  all  details  are  described,  and  the 
flight  of  their  armies  or  the  taking  of  their  fortresses 
is  painted  on  the  walls.  The  praiseworthy  zeal  of  the 
sovereigns  in  celebrating  their  own  glory  enables  us 
to  know  the  physiognomy,  the  costume,  the  ornaments, 
the  worship,  and  the  manners  of  these  conquered  peoples 
with  sufficient  accuracy.  Every  modern  student  has 
derived  subjects  for  articles  from  these  pictures  of 
battles  and  warlike  prowess,  best  suited  to  their  par- 
ticular tastes  or  aptitudes.  Some  have  given  us  the 

42 


SYRIA  43 

political  history  of  Egypt,  others  an  illustrated  com- 
mentary of  biblical  narratives,  others  again  a  supple- 
ment to  the  prevailing  ideas  on  the  beginnings  of  Greek 
civilization,  and  Max  Miiller  the  geography  of  Western 
Asia  and  of  Europe  chiefly  between  the  eighteenth  and 
tenth  centuries  B.C.1 

The  Max  Miiller  of  whom  I  speak  is  not  the  celebrated 
Oxford  philologist,  converted  to  Egyptology  in  his 
old  age.  The  name  Miiller  is  very  common  in  Ger- 
many, and  the  prefix  Max  has  become  so  distinguished 
that  many  a  Miiller  bestows  it  on  his  son  as  an  earnest 
of  future  fame  and  prosperity.  Our  Max  Miiller,  still 
a  young  man,  is  a  native  of  Nuremberg,  but  he 
emigrated  a  few  years  ago  to  the  University  of  Phila- 
delphia. He  has  contributed  learned  articles  to  our 
reviews,  and  although  his  criticism  is  sometimes 
extravagant,  it  is  always  full  of  new  ideas  and  original 
observation.  In  this  work,  the  first  destined  for  the 
public,  he  has  put  together  ideals  supplied  by  the 
Egyptian  inscriptions  about  the  European  or  Asiatic 
races  with  whom  the  Pharaohs  came  in  contact.  The  work 
has  been  criticized  elsewhere.2  What  must  be  noted 
here  and  unreservedly  praised  is  the  number  of  refer- 
ences he  has  collected,  their  clever,  not  to  say  happy, 
treatment,  the  complete  picture  of  the  Syrian  countries 
he  has  succeeded  in  deriving  from  them.  Experts  will 
shake  their  heads  at  certain  passages,  but  the  whole 
is  so  cleverly  and  successfully  arranged  that  for  a  long 
while  it  will  be  an  indispensable  document  for  historians 
and  prove  a  sure  assistance  in  their  studies.  The 
number  of  hieroglyphic  characters,  and  the  strange 
shapes  assumed  by  the  ancient  names  when  they  are 

1  W.  Max  Miiller:  Asien  und  Europa  nach  altcegyptischen  Denk- 
mcelern,  mit  einem  Vorwort  -von  G,  Ebers,  mit  zahlreichen  Abbild- 
ungen  in  Zincotypie  und  eimr  Karte.     Leipzig,  1893. 

2  Revue  Critique,  1894,  I.  pp.  501-505. 


44       NEW   LIGHT   ON   ANCIENT   EGYPT 

transcribed  in  Roman  letters,  will  put  off  many  readers ; 
it  is  an  almost  inevitable  inconvenience  in  most  works 
about  the  ancient  lands  of  the  East;  but  those  who 
can  overcome  their  fear  will  be  rewarded  for  their 
courage  by  the  information  that  they  will  gain. 

The  whole  of  Syria  was  then  under  Chaldasan  influ- 
ence. Between  3000  and  4000  B.C.  Babylon  had  several 
times  directly  exercised  her  authority.  Her  kings  had 
led  triumphant  expeditions  there,  and  planted  there  the 
manners  of  the  nations  of  the  Euphrates.  Her  merchants 
visited  it  in  larger  numbers  than  did  those  of  Egypt, 
and  sold  there  to  advantage  their  jewels,  arms,  and  stuffs. 
The  infiltration  of  Chaldasan  customs  was  so  thorough 
that  about  1600  B.C.,  when  the  Pharaohs  invaded  it,  the 
Phoenician  and  Canaanitish  cities  must  for  the  most 
part  have  looked  to  the  travellers  like  provincial  towns 
of  Chaldaea,  Ourou,  Nipour,  or  Sippara.  The  inhabitants 
wore  the  heavily-embroidered  and  motley-coloured  robes 
of  the  Babylonians,  and  the  long  hair  and  curled  or 
waved  beard  in  the  fashion  prevailing  in  the  plains  of 
the  Euphrates;  they  adopted  the  cuneiform  alphabet, 
and  wrote  it  with  metal  or  bone  stylets  on  slabs  of  clay 
like  the  Chaldaean  scribes.  Not  only  were  private  affairs 
thus  discussed,  but  also  affairs  of  State;  so  that  when 
the  Pharaohs  had  conquered  the  countries  of  Libya  they 
were  able  to  procure  interpreters  and  secretaries  who 
could  decipher  the  cuneiform,  and  so  assist  with  the 
diplomatic  correspondence.1  They  were  not  exigent 
with  regard  to  the  use  of  hieroglyphics  when  a  request 
or  notice  was  addressed  to  them  from  Damascus  or 
Jerusalem ;  so  long  as  the  tribute  was  punctually  paid 
in  metal  free  from  alloy  they  did  not  care  whether  the 
dispatch  announcing  its  coming  was  written  in  one 
character  or  another.  They  did  nothing  to  change  the 

1  Cf.  Chapter  I. 


SYRIA  45 

taste  or  habits  of  the  Syrian  peoples,  and  were  quite 
willing  that  they  should  model  their  way  of  life  on  that 
of  their  ancient  masters.  If  after  a  time  certain  tenden- 
cies to  imitate  Egypt  are  observed  in  their  industries 
and  fashions,  the  change  is  caused  not  by  force,  but  by 
an  entirely  voluntary  spirit  of  initiative.  The  Egyptian 
models  had  at  least  the  merit  of  novelty,  and  their 
elegance  caused  them  to  be  gladly  accepted  as  soon 
as  they  were  seen  to  be  the  more  numerous.  They 
never  entirely  superseded  the  others,  and  both  the  art 
and  the  civilization  of  those  lands,  notwithstanding  the 
individuality  which  belonged  to  their  position,  occupied 
a  middle  place  between  Egypt  and  Chaldsea. 

The  land  was  divided  into  small  isolated  states  con- 
tinually at  war  with  each  other  for  the  purpose  of  con- 
quering or  preserving  the  lordship  gf  a  few  acres  of 
wheat  in  the  plain,  or  a  few  wooded  ravines  in  the 
hills.  The  caravans  or  the  armies  traversed  at  least  a 
kingdom  a  day,  sometimes  even  several  kingdoms  be- 
tween two  halting-places.  The  King  of  Mageddo  could 
see  from  his  own  capital  that  of  the  King  of  Taanach, 
who,  before  reaching  the  horizon,  would  come  up  to  the 
frontiers  of  the  empires  of  Apour  or  Shounem.  All  these 
kingdoms  were  strongly  fortified,  and  possessed  walled 
enclosures  large  enough  to  shelter  the  inhabitants  of  the 
villages  dependent  on  them  at  the  first  alarm  of  war. 
Most  of  them  were  perched  on  isolated  hills,  or  on  spurs 
of  the  mountains,  attached  to  the  principal  chain  by  a 
sort  of  narrow  embankment.  Their  walls  followed  the 
contours  of  the  ground,  and  were  drawn  up  on  two  or 
three  lines  to  the  most  accessible  points.  They  were 
built  of  stone,  flanked  by  high  embattled  towers,  fortified 
with  a  keep  in  which  the  governor  and  the  rest  of  the 
garrison  took  refuge  after  the  city  itself  had  been  taken 
by  storm.  Sometimes  these  enclosures  were  taken  by 
means  of  scaling  ladders,  or  by  breaking  down  and 


46       NEW   LIGHT   ON   ANCIENT   EGYPT 

burning  the  gates,  but  mostly  they  had  to  be  blockaded, 
and  reduced  by  famine.  Whether  dwellers  in  the  cities 
or  in  the  country,  the  temperament  of  the  Syrians  was 
violent  and  hard  even  to  cruelty;  they  were  fond  of 
cutting  off  their  prisoners'  hands  and  feet,  and  they 
massacred  them  in  cold  blood  after  the  fight.  Their 
war  equipment  was  as  perfect  as  that  of  the  Egyptians, 
and  consisted  of  shield,  pike,  javelins,  bow  and  arrows, 
axes,  swords,  poniards,  a  pointed  helmet,  and  often  a 
long  padded  coat  which  did  duty  for  a  cuirass;  their 
chariots  were  heavy,  and  carried  three  men,  the  soldier, 
the  shield-bearer,  the  driver,  while  the  Egyptian 
chariots  only  carried  two  men,  the  soldier  and  the 
shield-bearer,  who  acted  also  as  driver.  They  yielded 
easily  to  Pharaoh's  soldiers,  but  more  from  lack  of 
discipline  than  lack  of  courage.  As  one  of  their  smalt 
armies  was  unable  to  stand  against  the  large  armies  of 
Egypt,  in  order  to  send  considerable  troops  into  the 
field  they  sometimes  combined,  but  unaccustomed  to 
work  together  they  quickly  fell  into  confusion  under 
the  concerted  movements  and  heavy  charges  of  their 
adversaries.  They  only  began  to  gain  important  advan- 
tages after  two  centuries  of  subjection,  when  the  Hittites 
united  all  the  countries  of  the  north  under  their 
dominion,  and  opposed  Ramses  II  with  compact  troops 
accustomed  to  fight  under  the  command  of  one  general. 

The  names  of  the  nations  and  the  towns  are  scattered 
through  the  inscriptions  in  which  the  episodes  of  con- 
quest are  narrated,  but  they  are  found  recorded  together 
in  interminable  lists  on  the  walls  of  the  Theban  pylons. 
The  kings  were  accustomed  to  bring  away  files  of 
prisoners  yoked  together  with  a  rope,  and  they  seem  to 
have  dragged  them  behind  their  chariots.  The  poor 
wretches,  after  they  had  taken  part  in  the  triumphal 
procession  on  the  day  of  the  sovereign's  return,  were 
for  the  most  part  condemned  to  slavery;  some  of 


SYRIA  47 

the  most  noble  of  them,  however,  were  led  by  the  con- 
queror before  the  image  of  his  father,  Amonra,  and 
sacrificed  to  the  god  with  blows  of  the  club.1  They 
were  engraved  in  a  conspicuous  place  in  the  temple,  but 
as  the  whole  of  them  would  have  taken  too  much  space, 
abbreviated  groups  were  substituted  in  which  the  name 
of  each  was  combined  with  his  idealized  portrait.  The 
body  became  a  sort  of  indented  ellipse  in  which  the 
name  was  engraved;  shoulders  rose  above  it,  and  two 
arms  bound  behind  jutted  out  from  them,  and  above 
was  a  human  head,  a  Semite  head  for  the  Asiatics, 
a  negro  head  for  the  tribes  of  the  Upper  Nile.  They 
were  arranged  in  a  fairly  regular  order,  nearly  always 
similar,  and  we  can  often  successfully  identify  them  with 
Hebrew,  Greek,  or  Arab  places.  Many  commemorate 
obscure  towns;  a  few  inform  us  of  the  existence  at  that 
time  of  cities  famous  in  classical  ages.  They  are  chiefly 
those  of  Palestine :  Gaza,  Ascalon,  Joppa,  Mageddo, 
Taanach,  Accho,  and  a  hundred  besides  among  which  it 
is  strange  not  to  find  Jerusalem ;  it  flourished,  however, 
and  the  dispatches  of  its  kings  tell  us  that  it  was  called 
Ourousalim.  Damascus  is  there  under  the  form  Dimas- 
kou,  with  Hamath  and  a  fortress  then  celebrated, 
Qodshou  on  the  Orontes;  towns  in  Northern  Syria  may 
be  counted  by  tens  :  Khaloupou-Alep,  Karchemis  at  the 
ford  of  the  Euphrates,  Nirab,  Dour-Banat,  which  is  the 
Castrum  puellarum  of  our  Crusades,  Ourima,  Dolikhe. 
Phoenicia  proper  does  not  appear  in  these  triumphal 
lists,  and  only  the  most  northerly  of  its  towns,  Arad 
and  Simyra,  are  thereon  inscribed.  Byblos,  Sidon, 
Sarepta,  and  Tyre  were  inhabited  by  cautious  traders 
who  felt  themselves  powerless  to  resist  Pharaoh's  archers 
and  sailors;  they  reckoned  that  in  paying  tribute  they 
would  have  the  advantage  of  trading  without  hindrance 

1  Cf.  Chapter  III. 


48       NEW   LIGHT   ON   ANCIENT   EGYPT 

with  their  would-be  masters,  and  that  by  these  pacific 
measures  they  would  gain  the  money  for  their  annual 
tribute.  They  were  never  beaten  because  they  never 
resisted;  but  other  documents  mention  their  country. 
Tyre,  for  instance,  was  already  embarked  in  the  open 
sea  on  her  island,  although  she  had  as  yet  no  springs 
nor  cisterns  from  which  to  drink,  and  had  to  import 
water  from  the  mainland. 

She  had  reasons  for  her  prudence.  She  had  already 
begun  her  voyages  of  discovery  and  her  colonization 
of  the  eastern  coasts  of  the  Mediterranean.  She  had 
established  herself  in  the  large  island  of  Cyprus,  then 
called  Asi  (Asia),  which  provided  her  with  wood  for 
her  ships,  with  copper  and  bronze  for  her  metal-workers. 
By  degrees  she  had  gained  Crete,  the  islands  of  the 
Archipelago,  continental  Greece,  possibly  the  shores 
of  the  Propontis  and  of  the  Black  Sea.  She  found  there 
races  of  a  different  origin  and  of  a  lower  civilization 
than  that  of  the  east,  but  not,  as  is  sometimes  thought, 
savage  races.  She  brought  them  the  product  of  Asiatic 
industries,  and  received  from  them  in  exchange  the 
primitive  materials  used  by  her  in  her  factories  :  alum, 
colours,  purple  dye,  gold,  silver,  bronze,  rude  vases 
and  ornaments,  which  pleased  the  educated  taste  of 
Egypt  or  Syria,  just  as  European  women  prize  and 
wear  African  or  Asiatic  jewellery.  Her  sailors  occupied 
small  islands,  and  built  factories  on  well-situated  pro- 
montories, where  they  felt  themselves  protected  from  the 
aborigines.  It  is  probable  that  like  the  Carthaginians 
at  a  later  period  they  carefully  concealed  the  position 
of  the  lands  they  discovered,  and  only  spoke  of  them 
in  a  vague  way.  They  were  the  Islands  of  the  sea,  the 
Countries  of  the  sea,  and  the  Egyptians  named  them  in 
the  same  way,  Islands  of  the  Very  Green,  Countries  of 
the  Very  Green,  the  Very  Green  being  our  Mediterranean. 
It  would  be  erroneous,  however,  to  suppose  that  they 


SYRIA  49 

were  content  to  speak  of  them  according  to  what  they 
heard  from  their  Phoenician  vassals,  and  that  they  never 
attempted  to  approach  them  directly.  They  had  no 
dread  of  the  sea,  as  is  so  often  stated,  but  each  powerful 
Dynasty  by  which  they  were  ruled  was  careful  to  create 
a  navy  on  a  war  basis  to  protect  the  mouths  of  the 
Nile,  or  to  encourage  the  development  of  the  mercantile 
marine  which  coasted  between  the  ports  of  the  Delta 
and  those  of  the  Syrian  shore.  The  pictures  at  Deir  El- 
Bahari  present  a  few  ships  of  the  royal  navy  of  Thout- 
mosis  III.  It  would  count  for  little  with  us,  but  it  must 
not  be  forgotten  that  Egypt  was  at  that  time  the  most 
formidable  power  in  the  world,  and  her  fleet  stood  for 
the  best  that  could  be  furnished  by  the  shipbuilder's 
yards  of  any  country.  Her  voyages  into  the  country  of 
the  Somali  in  search  of  incense  testify  to  the  skill  of 
her  pilots ;  and  what  they  accomplished  without  disaster 
in  the  south,  they  could  certainly  have  undertaken  in 
the  less  perilous  regions  of  the  north. 

We  are  not  fortunate  enough  to  possess  a  detailed  and 
illustrated  narrative  of  any  of  these  explorations,  but  we 
have  a  direct  proof  that  they  repeatedly  took  place. 
The  Pharaohs  kept  royal  envoys  in  Syria,  persons 
of  rank  chosen  from  the  most  intelligent  or  noblest  of 
those  immediately  about  them.  The  names  of  some 
of  them  have  come  down  to  us,  but  the  one  about  whom 
we  have  most  information  lived  in  the  reign  of  Ameno- 
thes  IV.  He  is  one  Doudou,  whose  tomb  still  exists  in 
the  hills  of  El-Amarna,  and  who  is  often  mentioned  in 
the  dispatches  exchanged  between  the  sovereign  and  his 
Asiatic  vassals.  Doudou  represented  Pharaoh  in  Syria, 
he  travelled  through  the  country,  hearing  complaints, 
redressing  wrongs,  trying  to  restore  order  wherever 
some  chief  was  making  a  disturbance ;  the  post  of  royal 
messenger  exacted  that  the  holder  of  it  should  go  in 
person  to  the  provinces,  the  government  of  which  was 

4 


50       NEW   LIGHT   ON   ANCIENT   EGYPT 

entrusted  to  him.  Among  those  messengers  whose 
monuments  have  survived,  several  bear  in  addition  the 
title  administrators  of  the  northern  countries,  and  added 
to  the  mention  of  that  charge  are  a  certain  number  of 
flattering  epithets  destined  to  enumerate  the  countries 
over  which  they  exercised  the  supremacy  of  Egypt. 
Thoutii,  one  of  the  most  celebrated  of  them,  the  hero 
of  a  popular  tale,  said  of  himself  that  he  owed  the  favour 
of  his  master,  Thoutmosis  III,  to  the  zeal  with  which  he 
performed  his  mission  "to  every  foreign  land,"  "to 
the  Islands  of  the  Very  Green";  he  had  filled  the 
treasury  with  lapis-lazuli  and  gold  and  silver  from  those 
far-off  regions.1  Did  an  Egyptian  vessel  or  a  Phoeni- 
cian squadron  take  him  there?  We  do  not  know,  but 
Rakhmiriya,  one  of  his  contemporaries,  had  the  people 
of  these  islands  painted  in  his  tomb,  and  elsewhere,  the 
galleys  which  took  them  to  Thebes  may  be  seen ;  the 
model  is  entirely  Egyptian,  and  they  are  manned  by 
pure-bred  Egyptians.  For  my  part  I  see  no  reason  to 
doubt  that  more  than  one  Egyptian  visited  Greece  in 
the  middle  of  the  XVIIIth  Dynasty.  The  Phoenicians, 
who  were  themselves  dependent  on  the  Theban  king, 
owned  many  islands,  and  in  sending  a  messenger  to 
the  vassals  or  subjects  of  his  vassals,  he  was  using  a 
right  of  which  no  one  in  the  world  would  then  have 
contested  the  legitimacy.  There  is  a  long-standing  pre- 
judice which  prevents  some  students  from  admitting  that 
these  ancient  relations,  of  which  the  Greeks  of  the 
classical  era  had  not  entirely  lost  the  remembrance,  ever 
existed  except  in  the  imagination  of  Egyptologists,  but 
everything  and  anything  may  be  expected  of  Egypt; 
I  am  certain  that  when  its  monuments  are  better  known, 
inscriptions  or  pictures  will  be  found  that  will  remove 
all  doubt  even  from  the  most  prejudiced  minds. 

1  DeveYia :  Mtmoires  et  Fragments,  I.  pp.  35-53  ;  partly  from  his 
own  researches,  partly  from  those  of  Birch. 


PHARAOH  THOUTMOSIS  III.,  FROM  A  STATUE  IN  THE  MUSEUM  AT  CAIRO. 


SYRIA  51 

Two  or  three  centuries  after  Thoutmosis  III,  the 
points  of  contact  between  the  inhabitants  of  the  shores 
of  the  JEgean  Sea  and  the  civilized  countries  of  the  East 
increased.  The  races  of  the  sea  became  active,  and 
desired  to  conquer  a  new  country  for  themselves  on  the 
banks  of  the  Nile.  The  Achaeans  fought  in  the  open 
Delta  before  settling  at  Cyprus,  like  the  Tyrsenes  before 
turning  to  Italy.  That  fact  astonishes  those  modern 
students  who  imagine  that  the  antique  world  was  an 
assemblage  of  timorous,  home-keeping  nations  or  tribes, 
terrified  at  the  notion  of  courting  adventures,  forced  from 
time  to  time  to  conquest  by  ambitious  sovereigns,  but 
always  ready  to  return  to  their  isolation  and  immobility 
as  soon  as  such  tiresome  rulers  had  ceased  to  exist.  It 
is  the  other  side  of  this  picture  that  is  true,  and  a  rest- 
lessness, oiten  quite  aimless,  was  as  great  two  thousand 
years  B.C.  as  it  was  in  the  Roman  era.  The  histories  of 
Egypt,  of  Syria,  of  Assyria,  of  Chaldaea  are,  wherever  we 
know  them,  filled  with  accounts  of  distant  expeditions  by 
land  and  sea.  The  imperfect  means  of  communication, 
the  bad  state  of  the  rivers,  the  insecurity  of  the  roads, 
the  perpetual  danger  of  robbery,  death  or  slavery, 
nothing  indeed  daunted  the  traders,  and  the  sailors 
were  as  courageous  as  the  leaders  of  the  caravans;  they 
ploughed  the  eastern  Mediterranean  in  every  sense,  and 
the  peoples  whom  they  visited,  inspired  by  their 
example,  did  not  hesitate  to  brave  the  risks  of  long 
voyages.  They  took  weeks  over  what  we  should  accom- 
plish in  a  few  hours.  A  cape  that  our  smallest  vessels 
easily  double  at  any  season,  took  them  several  days, 
since  they  were  forced  to  await  a  relative  calm  or  a  favour- 
able wind  for  their  frail  boats.  Terrible  tales  are  told 
of  whirlpools  which  swallowed  up  everything,  of  islands 
inhabited  by  monsters,  or  which  sunk  beneath  the  waves 
directly  they  were  approached,  of  moving  rocks  between 
which  it  was  necessary  to  glide  very  quickly  to  avoid 


52       NEW   LIGHT   ON   ANCIENT   EGYPT 

being  crushed ;  but  they  set  out  all  the  same,  certain  not 
to  return  till  after  long  years  of  absence.  The  tradi- 
tions of  Greece  preserved  the  memory  of  the  voyages 
and  migrations  to  which  the  forerunners  of  the  classic 
Hellenes  were  accustomed;  but  archaeologists  relegated 
them  to  the  domain  of  fable  in  so  peremptory  a  manner 
that  they  were  only  mentioned  with  mistrust  and  even 
with  apology.  Egypt  and  Egyptologists  have  often 
reminded  us  that  many  doubtful  traditions  contain  a 
large  amount  of  truth,  and  have  furnished  contemporary 
proof  of  several  migrations  of  peoples.  But  their  testi- 
mony has  been  revoked,  and  many  persons  are  still 
incredulous.  They  should  carefully  study  Max  Miiller's 
book,  in  which  they  will  find  plenty  of  material  to 
convince  them. 


VI 

EGYPT  AND   THE   ELEUSINIAN   MYSTERIES 

THE  number  of  dissertations  on  the  origin  and  nature 
of  the  Eleusinian  mysteries  are  in  inverse  proportion 
to  the  scantiness  of  precise  information  concerning  the 
ceremonies  performed  at  them.  The  initiated  solemnly 
undertook  not  to  reveal  anything,  and  scarcely  ever 
spoke  of  them,  or,  if  they  did,  merely  mentioned  such 
generalities  as  were  known  to  all.  The  Christian  apolo- 
gists, restrained  by  a  dread  of  awkward  consequences  to 
which  they  would  have  exposed  themselves  by  too 
flagrant  indiscretions,  never  openly  concerned  themselves 
with  the  demonstration  of  dogmas  or  secret  operations. 
And,  besides,  the  spirit  of  proselytism,  wrhich  was  so 
strong  in  them,  led  them  to  see  only  the  ridiculous  or 
indecent  side  of  the  ceremonies,  and  renders  their  testi- 
mony suspect  or  incomplete.  In  order  to  guess  at  what 
took  place  in  the  sanctuary,  we  have  nothing  but  brief 
allusions  here  and  there,  made  more  obscure  by  their 
personal  bias,  in  the  writings  of  the  Christian  apolo- 
gists, the  historians,  the  orators,  the  moralists,  the 
poets,  the  grammarians  and  rhetoricians.  Inscriptions 
of  different  epochs  confirm,  correct  and  contradict  this 
information,  and  sometimes  add  valuable  details.  It 
has  all  been  classified,  labelled,  and  commented  on  by 
generations  of  students,  whose  systems,  suited  to  the 
taste  and  fashion  of  the  moment,  are  clever  and  well 
deduced,  but  so  subtle  in  essence,  and  so  rarefied  in 
invention,  that  after  studying  them  we  know  even  less 

S3 


54       NEW   LIGHT   ON   ANCIENT   EGYPT 

than  before.  We  leave  them  with  the  clear  conviction 
that  if  the  Eleusinian  ceremonies  were  mysteries  for  the 
ancients,  they  are  in  another  way  equally  ineffable  mys- 
teries for  us,  and  we  console  ourselves  for  our  ignorance 
with  the  fact  that  the  experts  themselves  know  very 
little  on  the  subject. 

Foucart,  however,  decided  to  publish  the  result  of  his 
researches  in  this  hazardous  region.1  He  has  good 
reason  for  knowing  Eleusis,  and  for  interesting  himself 
in  the  religious  associations  of  Greece;  his  experience 
has  suggested  a  solution  of  the  problem  that  I  consider 
wholly  true  in  bulk,  and  nearly  so  in  detail.  Some  will 
hesitate  to  admit  it,  or  will  only  half  acknowledge  it; 
but  all  will  agree  in  admiring  the  clear  way  in  which  he 
puts  the  problem,  explains  the  inscriptions  one  by  the 
other,  and  leads  the  reader  to  the  conclusion  without 
shirking  any  difficulty  or  obstacle  that  he  is  unable  to 
overcome.  Even  in  France,  where  clearness  is  so  highly 
prized,  students  capable  of  conducting  a  dissertation  of 
eighty  quarto  pages  so  that  no  point  is  obscure  through 
any  fault  of  composition,  and  where  the  principal  thesis 
is  demonstrated  by  a  series  of  proofs  skilfully  introduced 
at  the  right  moment,  are  rare :  the  result  is  that  the 
reader  passes,  almost  unconsciously,  from  mistrust  and 
scepticism  to  conviction.  Foucart  shows  at  the  begin- 
ning that  the  Demeter  of  Eleusis  is  an  Egyptian  by 
birth,  an  Isis  who  gradually  became  hellenized.  He 
accompanies  her  in  her  evolution,  notes  what  her  priest- 
hood was,  with  its  ideas  on  the  future  life,  and  the 
especial  turn  of  its  doctrines,  what  attraction  it  offered 
to  pious  minds,  and  the  various  ways  by  which  it  rallied 
them  round  it.  It  is  very  strange  to  find  this  profes- 
sional Hellenist,  whose  education  was  in  no  way  calcu- 

1  P.  Foucart :  "  Recherches  sur  1'origine  et  la  nature  des  mysteres 
d'Eleusis ''  (extract  from  the  Me~moires  de  VAcadtmie  des  Inscriptions 
et  Belles  Lettres,  Vol.  xxxv,  Pt  2),  1895. 


EGYPT   AND   ELEUSINIAN   MYSTERIES      55 

lated  to  lead  him  into  the  paths  of  oriental  origins, 
allowing  himself  to  be  gradually  attracted  by  matters 
Egyptian,  and  to  give  them  an  attention  refused  by  so 
many  of  our  classical  students,  and  then  beginning  to 
love  them,  yet  never  for  an  instant  losing  the  even 
balance  of  his  mind,  and  the  perfect  equilibrium  of  his 
judgment. 

The  ancient  Greeks,  who  had  a  sufficiently  good 
opinion  of  themselves,  and  who  easily  persuaded  them- 
selves of  their  superiority  over  the  barbarians  (that  is, 
over  all  other  nations),  admitted,  however,  that  they 
owed  some  of  the  elements  of  their  civilization  to  the 
great  nations  of  the  East,  to  the  Egyptians  in  particular. 
Modern  Hellenists,  more  Greek  in  that  point  than  the 
old  Greeks  themselves,  long  repudiated  the  tradition  of 
debts  to  the  East,  and  put  forward  excellent  reasons  for 
believing  that  Greece  produced  and  developed  all  her 
gods,  all  her  religious  and  philosophical  opinions,  with- 
out foreign  aid.  Foucart,  on  the  contrary,  admits  the 
authenticity  of  the  legends  that  preserved  the  memory  of 
the  Egyptian  migrations.  The  monuments  of  the  Theban 
Dynasties  record  that  from  the  sixteenth  century  B.C., 
the  officers  of  King  Thoutmosis  III  and  his  successors 
went  straight  from  the  mouth  of  the  Nile  or  the  coast 
of  Syria  to  the  islands  of  the  ^Egean  Sea  in  Phoenician 
boats.1  The  horror  of  the  sea  always  attributed  to  the 
Egyptians  did  not  prevent  them  from  navigating  it  from 
the  Vth  and  Vlth  Dynasties;  in  the  XVIIIth  Dynasty 
they  were  a  maritime  power,  in  so  far  as  is  possible  for  a 
nation  possessing  a  restricted  coast-line,  and  their  ships 
sailed  to  Somaliland,  past  the  straits  of  Bab-el-Mandeb, 
the  land  of  incense,  or  they  sailed  periodically  to  Syria, 
Cyprus,  or  Asia  Minor.  The  prejudice  against  the 
tradition  of  fairly  close  relations  between  the  cities 
of  Hellas  and  those  of  Egypt  is  solely  that  of  the 
1  Cf.  Chapter  V. 


56       NEW   LIGHT   ON   ANCIENT   EGYPT 

philologist  or  classical  archaeologist  entirely  ignorant 
of  oriental  studies.  The  prejudice  is  dying  out,  but 
opinions  due  to  it  still  exist  in  some  degree,  and  more 
than  one  historian  is  opposed  to  the  thought  that  exiles 
or  traders  could  go  from  the  mouths  of  the  Nile  to 
Argolis  or  Attica.  Foucart  believes  it,  and  quotes  facts 
of  a  nature  to  prove  it.  He  afterwards  compares  the 
person  and  worship  of  the  Eleusinian  Demeter  with  the 
person  and  worship  of  Isis,  and  then  shows  that  the 
resemblance  between  the  two  goddesses  is  not  merely 
accidental  and  on  the  surface,  but  must  be  sought  in  the 
depths  of  their  nature.  The  Greek  is  not  a  servile  copy 
of  the  Egyptian,  adapted  to  her  Western  environment, 
but  preserves  the  chief  characteristics  of  her  African 
model.  Her  religion  reminds  the  faithful  of  the  double 
benefit  she  has  conferred  on  them,  the  invention  of 
agriculture  which  has  introduced  them  into  the  civilized 
life  of  this  world,  and  the  initiation  into  mysteries  which 
assured  them  happiness  in  the  other  world.  Her  most 
ancient  ceremonies  which  existed  in  the  eleventh  century 
B.C.  celebrate  the  moment  when  the  corn  springs,  when 
the  straw  is  formed,  when  the  grain  is  threshed.  The 
first-fruits  of  the  harvest  were  consecrated  to  her,  and 
her  most  sacred  emblem,  that  which  was  presented  to 
the  initiated  only  at  the  very  last,  was  the  blade  of  ripe 
corn.  To  those  who  bound  themselves  to  her  by  cere- 
monies and  solemn  oaths,  she  promised  certain  happi- 
ness in  the  other  world  as  a  reward  for  their  devotion. 
It  is  not  necessary  to  be  a  learned  Egyptologist  to 
recognize  the  Isis  of  the  Delta  under  the  Greek  name 
and  robe,  the  fertile  earth,  lady  of  the  harvests  and  of 
bread,  who  awards  her  faithful  ones  the  same  fate  which 
she  assured  to  her  husband,  Osiris,  and  who  guides 
them  to  a  shining  paradise  through  the  horrors  of  the 
darkness  beyond  the  tomb. 
The  revelations  made  to  the  neophytes  contained  no 


EGYPT   AND   ELEUSINIAN   MYSTERIES      57 

moral  teaching,  no  philosophical  symbolism.  They 
comprised  three  different  elements,  a  drama  performed 
for  them  by  the  priesthood  during  the  vigils  of  the 
initiation,  the  objects  shown  to  them,  the  formulas 
uttered  and  taught  to  them.  The  drama  instructed  them 
in  facts  unknown,  or  imperfectly  known  to  the  common 
herd;  the  rape  of  Cora  by  Hades,  the  grief  of  Demeter, 
and  her  sad  journeys  in  search  of  her  daughter,  her 
union  with  Celeus,  and  the  birth  of  Euboleus,  the  man- 
ner in  which  Triptolemus  delivered  her  half-sister  Cora 
on  a  chariot  drawn  by  serpents.  In  another  series  of 
scenes  the  hierophant  and  the  priestess  of  Demeter  acted 
the  marriage  of  Zeus  and  Demeter,  and  presented  to  the 
spectators  the  ultimate  result,  the  blade  of  ripe  corn. 
The  representation  took  place  in  the  sacred  enclosure, 
and  in  the  halls  of  the  temple;  there  were  few  scenic 
decorations,  no  mechanical  contrivances,  or  complicated 
devices.  "  The  silence  of  the  night,  the  alternations  of 
light  and  shade,  the  majestic  voice  of  the  sacred  herald, 
the  imposing  robes  of  the  hierophants  and  ministers 
engaged  in  the  solemnities,  the  singing  of  the  choir,  now 
plaintive,  now  triumphant,  exercised  a  strong  influence 
on  the  senses  and  imagination.  The  heart  thus  excited 
by  the  preparation  that  preceded  the  initiation,  mystery 
easily  held  sway  in  the  sacred  precincts;  the  promises 
and  semi-revelations  of  the  mystagogue  to  whom  the 
instruction  of  the  novice  was  entrusted,  the  retreat  into 
the  Eleusinium  of  Athens,  the  fasting,  the  repeated  puri- 
fications and  sacrifices,  the  songs  and  dances  of  the  pro- 
cession from  Athens  to  Eleusis,  the  continual  shouts  of 
lacchos,  the  arrival  by  torchlight  in  the  holy  city,  and, 
above  all,  the  impatient  and  anxious  anticipation  of  what 
was  to  be  revealed,  combined  to  incline  a  man  to  strong 
emotion.  And  when  at  last  the  hierophant  disclosed  the 
sacred  effigies  to  his  view,  in  a  form  and  with  attributes 
unknown  to  the  profane,  must  he  not  have  felt  nearer  the 


58       NEW   LIGHT   ON   ANCIENT   EGYPT 

gods,  as  if  admitted  to  contemplate  them  face  to  face?" 
But  that  was  not  sufficient  to  give  him  the  certitude  of 
everlasting  happiness  in  the  future  life.  He  desired 
more  than  the  sight  of  gods  suffering,  and  then  triumph- 
ing in  glory;  he  required  a  solemn  act  in  which  he 
played  a  part,  before  acquiring  full  possession  of  the 
mysterious  truth.  We  know  that  it  was  like  an  anticipa- 
tory rehearsal  of  the  peregrinations  his  soul  would  have 
to  make  before  attaining  supreme  felicity.  Plutarch  tells 
us  that  there  were  first  walks  at  random  through  diffi- 
cult by-ways,  disquieting  and  interminable  wanderings 
in  utter  darkness,  all  simulating  the  way  through  hell 
that  must  be  traversed  before  reaching  paradise.  When, 
at  last,  he  was  on  the  point  of  succumbing  to  fatigue 
and  terror,  a  wonderful  light  dawned  on  his  eyes,  and 
he  gazed  on  the  pure  places,  and  on  the  meadows  full 
of  dancing  and  singing,  of  holy  speeches  and  divine 
apparitions.  Even  then  the  revelation  was  incomplete; 
it  indicated  the  obstacles  to  be  overcome,  and  the  end 
towards  which  his  efforts  were  directed,  but  it  neglected 
to  show  the  way  by  which  he  could  come  forth  victorious 
from  his  trials. 

But  the  words  he  listened  to  in  the  course  of  the  cere- 
monies instructed  him ;  the  hierophant  alone  had  the 
right  of  pronouncing  them,  and  it  was  not  the  least 
glory  of  his  ministry.  The  old  authors,  however,  have 
not  preserved  them,  and  we  should  be  reduced  to  con- 
jecture if  documents  emanating  from  the  Orphic  sect 
did  not  furnish  an  equivalent.  The  Orphics  were  accus- 
tomed to  engrave  extracts  from  the  poem  to  which  they 
consigned  the  part  of  their  exegesis  concerning  the 
travels  of  the  soul,  the  descent  into  Hades,  on  plates 
of  gold  which  they  deposited  in  the  tombs.  They  were 
secret  instructions,  since  they  were  imprisoned  with  the 
body  in  its  last  resting-place,  into  which  no  human  eye 
could  penetrate  from  the  day  on  which  the  corpse  was 


EGYPT   AND   ELEUSINIAN   MYSTERIES      59 

therein  enclosed  :  "  You  will  find  (they  said)  a  spring  on 
the  left  in  the  domains  of  Hades,  and  near  it  a  white 
cypress ;  you  will  not  approach  that  spring.  You  will  find 
another  which  has  its  source  in  the  lake  of  memory,  and 
guardians  stand  in  front  of  it.  Then  say — '  I  am  the 
Child  of  the  Earth  and  of  the  starry  Sky,  but  know  that 
my  origin  is  divine.  I  am  devoured  by  and  perish  with 
thirst ;  give  me,  without  delay,  the  fresh  water  that  flows 
from  the  lake  of  memory.'  And  they  will  give  you  to 
drink  of  the  divine  spring,  and  then  you  will  reign  with 
the  others."  In  another  fragment  a  friend  undertakes 
to  guide  the  pilgrim.  "  And  when  your  soul  has  left 
the  light  of  the  sun,  turn  to  the  right  as  every  wise  man 
should,"  in  order  to  avoid  the  white  cypress  and  the 
fatal  spring;  "Farewell,  thou  who  hast  experienced 
what  thou  hadst  never  yet  experienced,  from  a  man  thou 
hast  become  a  god,  thou  art  [white  and  pure]  as  a  kid 
dipped  in  milk;  farewell,  farewell,  thou  who  takest  the 
right-hand  path  towards  the  fields  and  sacred  woods  of 
Proserpine."  Elsewhere  the  soul  stops  in  front  of  the 
spring,  and  talks  with  it.  "  '  I  am  devoured  by  and 
perish  with  thirst.'  'Well,  then,  drink  of  my  spring; 
I  flow  always  to  the  right  of  the  cypress.  Who  art 
thou?  Who  is  thy  father?'  'I  am  son  of  the  Earth 
and  of  the  starry  Sky.'  '  A  last  extract  describes  his 
condition  when  he  is  at  the  end  of  his  journey  :  "  Pure, 
and  issued  from  what  is  pure,  I  come  towards  thee, 
Queen  of  Hades,  and  towards  you,  Eucles,  Euboleus,  and 
towards  you  all,  immortal  gods,  for  I  boast  of  belonging 
to  your  race.  I  have  escaped  the  dread  circle  of  pro- 
found grief,  and  with  my  swift  feet  have  entered  the 
desired  realm,  and  have  descended  into  the  bosom  of 
the  Queen  of  Hades."  The  resemblance  between  the 
Orphic  ideas  and  the  Eleusinian  dogmas  is  sufficiently 
close  to  lead  us  to  think  that  the  portions  of  the 
Orphic  ritual  so  far  discovered  are  analogous  to  the  still 


60       NEW   LIGHT    ON   ANCIENT   EGYPT 

unknown  formulas  of  the  Eleusinian  ritual.  The  words 
declaimed  by  the  hierophant  in  a  loud  voice  perfectly  in 
tune,  were  the  prayers,  and  the  necessary  instructions 
given  to  the  soul  of  the  initiated,  so  that  he  might  know 
what  each  of  the  districts  of  the  infernal  regions  was  like, 
the  dangers  it  concealed,  and  that  had  to  be  avoided,  the 
roads  that  had  to  be  traversed,  the  power  of  the  beings 
he  would  have  to  encounter  before  he  could  be  admitted 
to  the  presence  of  the  goddess,  and  participate  in  the 
felicities  she  bestowed  on  the  faithful."  Amid  a  scene 
calculated  to  strike  the  senses  and  the  imagination,  the 
novice  saw  the  life  and  adventures  of  the  divinities  who 
reigned  over  the  lower  world;  he  was  admitted  into 
their  presence,  and  contemplated  their  images;  he  tra- 
versed their  domain,  and  learned  the  all-powerful  words 
which  opened  it  to  him.  Was  not  that  what  he  had 
come  to  ask  of  the  goddesses  of  Eleusis  ?  Are  not  those 
revelations,  the  means  and  sure  pledge  of  an  eternal 
happiness,  sufficient  to  explain  the  transports  of  joy  to 
which  the  initiated  gave  themselves  up?  Do  they  not 
at  least  justify  the  firm  trust  in  the  future  which  caused 
one  of  them  to  say,  "  Thanks  to  the  mysteries,  death  for 
mortals  is  not  an  evil,  but  a  good  "  ? 

It  is  necessary  to  be  better  informed  than  I  am  con- 
cerning the  religions  of  Demeter  and  Cora  to  judge  how 
closely  their  dogmas  resemble  those  of  the  religions  of 
Isis  and  Osiris.  All  the  facts  put  forward  by  Foucart 
are  true  of  the  Egyptian  Isis;  the  Hellenists  must  decide 
if  the  resemblance  with  the  corresponding  facts  that  he 
alleges  of  Demeter  proves  as  much  as  I  think  it  does. 
It  seems  certain  to  me  that  the  Eleusinian  mysteries  are 
Egyptian  by  execution  and  intention ;  Egyptian  thought 
dominates  them,  and  the  manner  in  which  the  thought 
is  expressed  is  Egyptian.  The  Egyptians,  always  occu- 
pied with  the  life  beyond  the  grave,  tried  in  very  remote 
ages  to  teach  men  the  art  of  living  after  death,  and  of 


EGYPT   AND   ELEUSINIAN   MYSTERIES      61 

leading  a  life  with  the  gods  resembling  existence  on 
earth,  and  the  pleasantest  existence  they  could  imagine. 
To  attain  it,  it  was  necessary  to  take  every  precaution 
in  this  life,  and  to  begin  by  becoming  attached  to  some 
divinity  able  to  protect  those  who  acknowledged  his 
sovereignty;  it  was  usually  a  god  who,  having  suffered 
death,  had  escaped  it,  Sokaris,  Khontamentit,  Phtah, 
Osiris  :  and  the  mortal  was  entitled  the  faithful  servant 
of  Sokaris,  Khontamentit,  Phtah,  Osiris,  according  to 
which  god  he  chose.  He  learned  by  heart  the  chapters 
which  gave  him  entrance  into  the  god's  domain,  for, 
once  a  mummy,  he  might  forget  them  in  the  first 
troubles  of  the  embalmment;  therefore  they  were  recited 
in  his  ear  before  he  was  carried  to  the  tomb,  and,  to  make 
more  certain,  a  special  work  containing  them  was  placed 
in  his  coffin;  it  was  a  "  Book  of  the  Dead,"  illustrated 
with  vignettes,  a  real  guide-book  to  Hades,  in  which  the 
roads  that  led  from  our  earth  to  all  the  paradises 
were  described  stage  by  stage.  Like  the  hierophant  of 
Eleusis,  the  Egyptian  priest  had  to  have  a  voice  perfectly 
in  tune  for  intoning  the  formulas,  and  the  novice  who 
repeated  them  after  him  had  also  to  possess  a  voice 
equally  in  tune.  Like  him  who  was  initiated  into  the 
Eleusinian  mysteries,  the  Egyptian  dead  personage  en- 
countered dangerous  or  salutary  springs  on  his  way,  as 
well  as  monsters  whom  he  pacified  with  his  singing;  he 
went  through  opaque  darkness,  and  at  last  reached  fertile 
islands,  brilliant  with  light,  the  meadows  of  sweet  cypress, 
where  his  master,  Osiris,  offered  him  a  peaceful  asylum 
on  condition  of  repeating  the  password.  A  long  while  ago 
I  was  struck  with  the  Egyptian  turn  of  the  verses  traced 
on  the  gold  plaques  of  Petelia,1  and  I  took  them  to  have 
been  borrowed  from  Egypt  by  the  theologians  of  Magna 
Grcecia.  Such  an  opinion,  coming  from  an  Egyptolo- 

1  I  borrowed  them  from  Fr.  Lenormant  in  order  to  quote  them  in 
my  lectures  at  the  College  de  France  in  1887. 


62       NEW   LIGHT   ON   ANCIENT   EGYPT 

gist,  would  have  been  suspected  by  the  Hellenist  as 
savouring  of  partiality;  coming  from  a  distinguished 
Hellenist,  it  will,  I  hope,  receive  a  kinder  welcome,  and 
be  discussed  with  the  attention  it  deserves. 

The  Mediterranean  races  showed  a  marked  taste  for 
Egyptian  jewellery,  scarabs,  coarse  glass  ware,  ivories, 
bronze  and  enamelled  statuettes  from  the  eighth  to  the 
fifth  century  B.C.  Phoenician  and  Greek  traders  brought 
cargoes  of  them  to  all  the  coasts,  to  Asia  Minor,  to  the 
islands  of  the  Archipelago,  to  Carthage,  Sardinia,  Italy ; 
Egyptian  statuettes,  and  other  objects,  have  been  found 
at  Rome  in  the  unrestored  portions  of  the  wall  of  Servius 
Tullius,  evidently  mingled  with  the  earth  when  the  foun- 
dations were  laid,  as  preservative  amulets.  Religious  or 
philosophical  doctrines  much  resemble  industrial  pro- 
ducts :  they  are  spread  over  the  earth,  and,  when  they 
are  not  expatriated  by  their  own  act,  foreigners  come 
to  collect  them  in  their  native  place.  Many  Greek 
scholars,  philosophers  and  theologians  travelled  in 
Egypt  at  that  time,  and  brought  back  ideas  which  some- 
times had  a  great  vogue.  What  was  stale  and  com- 
monplace on  the  banks  of  the  Nile  would  be  regarded  as 
original  and  novel  in  the  towns  of  the  .rEgean  Sea  or 
the  Ionian  Coast.  It  was  then  that  the  Orphic  doctrines 
prevailed;  it  was  then,  doubtless,  that  the  Eleusinian 
mysteries  assumed  the  form  in  which  we  know  them, 
and  which  Foucart  explains  in  so  delightful  a  fashion. 


VII 

A   FORGOTTEN   CAPITAL   OF   PHARAONIC   EGYPT 

TELL  EL-ARMARNA,  the  inaccurate  name  given  to  the 
site  of  one  of  the  ancient  capitals  of  the  Pharaohs,  is 
marked  by  a  vast  amphitheatre  of  low,  sandy  hills  worn 
by  water-courses,  by  a  narrow  strip  of  earth  of  meagre 
cultivation  along  the  Nile,  by  three  villages  at  intervals 
of  a  few  miles  from  south  to  north,  and  near  the  largest 
a  heap  of  broken  walls  running  in  every  direction,  by 
scattered  bricks,  fragments  of  limestone  and  granite,  and 
by  the  half-filled  trenches  that  distinguish  the  sites  of 
excavations  in  Egypt.  At  the  beginning  of  the  nine- 
teenth century  the  preservation  of  the  town  was  such 
that  the  direction  of  the  streets  and  the  contours  of  the 
houses  and  palaces  could  be  distinguished  :  the  members 
of  the  French  commission  drew  a  plan  which  was  repro- 
duced in  the  works  of  Lepsius  and  Prisse  d'Avennes. 
How  comes  it  that  what  they  saw  has  perished?  The 
usurers  and  traders  of  Mellaoui  provided  themselves 
thence  with  materials  for  their  buildings,  the  peasants  of 
the  district  obtained  thence  great  baskets  of  sebakh,  the 
nitreous  dust  which  is  the  manure  of  the  Said,  seekers 
after  antiquities  worked  the  site  to  secure  antiques  that 
sell  easily,  especially  the  blue,  green,  yellow,  red,  white, 
violet  enamelled  rings  so  beloved  of  the  tourist;  and 
lastly  the  discovery  of  a  correspondence  in  cuneiform 
writing  l  and  the  imprudence  of  travellers  in  search  of  a 
good  find,  sent  the  natives  into  the  field,  with  the  result 

1  Cf.  Chapter  I. 
63 


64       NEW   LIGHT   ON  ANCIENT   EGYPT 

that  they  have  destroyed  everything.  When  Flinders 
Petrie  went  there  to  carry  on  excavations  scarcely  any- 
thing remained  of  what  his  predecessors  had  discovered. 
But  all  the  same  he  set  to  work  with  his  characteristic 
energy,  and  if  he  was  compelled  to  confirm  the  disap- 
pearance of  entire  buildings  in  some  places,  he  suc- 
ceeded in  unearthing  elsewhere  documents  of  value  for 
the  history  of  Egypt  and  of  the  ancient  world.1 

That  corner  of  the  earth  has  known  strange  fortunes. 
In  the  beginning  it  was  a  dependency  of  Hermopolis  and 
without  a  life  of  its  own.  The  mountains  which  form 
its  eastern  boundary  contain,  it  is  true,  quarries  of  a 
very  pure  and  fine  alabaster  that  had  been  worked  from 
the  time  of  the  Memphian  kings,  but  the  port  where  the 
blocks  were  loaded  was  farther  south,  and  the  activity 
which  the  working  of  the  quarries  produced  only  affected 
that  place.  The  amphitheatre  of  El-Amarna  seems  to 
have  been,  then  as  now,  a  moderately  fertile  province, 
sparsely  populated,  exposed  to  the  nomad  marauders  of 
the  outskirts  of  the  desert.  Suddenly,  about  the  fifteenth 
century  B.C.,  an  eccentric  Pharaoh,  Amenoth£s  IV,  took 
a  violent  liking  to  it,  went  to  live  there,  laid  out  gardens, 
built  palaces  and  temples,  established  his  court  and 
transferred  the  government  there;  from  one  day  to  the 
next  a  town  sprang  up  where  before  there  had  only 
been  obscure  hamlets,  and  for  about  twenty  years  the 
destinies  of  the  world  hung  on  the  spot.  The  earliest 
students  to  discover  this  fact  and  to  try  and  find  out  the 
reason,  were  struck  first  by  the  strange  physiognomy 
given  to  the  sovereign  and  his  family  by  contemporary 
artists,  and  then  by  the  hatred  shown,  officially  at  least, 
by  the  chief  personages  of  the  state  to  the  god  of  Thebes, 
Amonra,  lord  of  Karnak.  They  put  forth  the  most 
preposterous  hypotheses  to  explain  these  anomalies,  and 

1  W.  M.  Flinders  Petrie :  Tell-el-Amarna,  with  Chapters  by  Prof. 
A.  H.  Sayce,  F.  LI.  Griffith,  E.  G.  J.  Spurrell.  1894. 


A    FORGOTTEN   CAPITAL  65 

they  made  Amenothes  IV  sometimes  an  eunuch,  some- 
times a  woman,  although  the  monuments  represented 
him  dressed  as  a  man  and  accompanied  by  a  queen, 
whom  he  appeared  to  love  affectionately.  They  were 
all  in  agreement  in  declaring  him  an  idiot  or  a  fanatic, 
or  both  together;  as  the  god  of  whom  he  declared  him- 
self the  devoted  servant  was  named  Atonou,  and,  as 
Atonou  is  assonant  with  the  name  of  the  Phoenician 
Adonis,  they  imagined  that  he  had  tried  to  acclimatize 
an  Asiatic  worship  in  Egypt,  or  an  ancient  Egyptian 
worship  modified  by  Asiatic  ideas.  But  what  motive 
could  a  Pharaoh  of  pure  race  have  had  for  suddenly 
worshipping  a  strange  divinity  ?  He  might  have  done 
so  from  his  earliest  childhood  under  the  influence  of  a 
Syrian  mother,  whence  the  conclusion  that  Tiyi,  the 
wife  of  Amenothes  III  and  the  mother  of  Amenothes  IV 
was  a  Semitic  princess.  Anything  and  everything  may 
be  easily  explained  by  a  few  hypotheses. 

The  truth,  as  it  now  begins  to  be  evolved  from 
documentary  evidence,  is  not  very  complicated.  Tiyi  is 
not  a  princess,  nor  did  she  come  from  Asia  :  she  sprung 
from  an  Egyptian  family  who  had  no  connection  with 
the  royal  House,  and  it  was  probably  love  that  gave  her 
the  rank  of  queen,  usually  attainable  only  by  the 
daughters  of  the  race  of  Pharaoh.  The  son  she  had 
by  her  husband  grew  to  have  a  horror  of  the  Theban 
Amon.  Perhaps  the  priests  were  opposed  to  the  choice 
of  him  as  heir.  Directly  he  was  master  he  resolved  to 
destroy  their  power,  and  he  transferred  his  homage  from 
their  idol  to  Atonou,  the  Disk  of  the  Sun,  an  ancient 
god  of  Heliopolis.  It  was  a  very  serious  step,  for,  in 
denying  the  religion  of  his  ancestors,  he  excited  the 
hostility  of  the  richest  priesthood  in  the  world  and, 
what  was  even  more  serious,  the  hatred  of  his  own 
capital,  for  Thebes  was  the  city  of  Amon  before  it  was 
that  of  the  Pharaohs.  In  EgyfH,  the  city  and  its  divine 
5 


66       NEW   LIGHT   ON   ANCIENT   EGYPT 

patron  were  so  closely  united  that  to  touch  one  was 
perforce  to  attack  the  other;  neither  Thebes,  nor  Mem- 
phis, nor  the  smallest  village  would  have  denied  its  god 
even  to  gain  the  favour  of  the  sovereign.  If  Amen- 
othes  had  adopted  the  sun,  Rd,  Khopri,  Atoumou,  as 
worshipped  at  Heliopolis,  he  need  only  have  migrated 
to  Heliopolis  and  proclaimed  it  his  capital,  but  as  he 
chose  a  secondary  form  of  the  sun  of  Heliopolis,  Heli- 
opolis, no  more  than  Thebes,  could  renounce  its  master, 
and  the  only  resource  left  was  to  build  a  new  city 
where  Atonou  would  have  the  supreme  power.  We  do 
not  know  the  motives  that  led  him  to  choose  the  district 
of  El-Amarna;  he  was  probably  attracted  by  the  extent 
of  the  plain,  by  its  central  position  in  the  kingdom, 
especially  by  the  absence  of  important  divinities  or 
sanctuaries  that  would  have  to  be  dispossessed.  He 
marked  off  a  district  from  the  nome  of  Heliopolis,  and 
demonstrated  its  boundaries  by  stelae  engraved  on  the 
rocks,  and  made  of  it  a  new  nome  which  he  called 
Khouit-Atonou,  "the  Horizon  of  the  Solar  Disk,"  like 
the  town.  About  the  same  time  he  renounced  the  name 
of  Amenothes,  which  consecrated  him  to  his  enemy 
Amon,  and  desired  to  be  called  henceforth  Khouniato- 
nou,  "  the  Glory  of  the  Solar  Disk."  Oriental  monarchs 
never  found  any  difficulty  in  improvising  residences ; 
Khouniatonou  undertook  to  build  the  temple  and  the 
palace,  and  those  about  him  did  the  rest.  The  temple 
was  spread  over  an  immense  surface,  of  which  the 
sanctuary,  properly  so  called,  only  occupied  a  very 
small  part;  it  was  flanked  by  brick  store-houses,  and  a 
huge  wall  surrounded  the  whole.  It  was  of  fine  white 
limestone,  but  almost  bare  of  ornament;  there  was  not 
time  to  decorate  it  suitably.  The  palace  was  of  brick, 
and  consisted  of  spacious  halls  and  of  small  chambers 
into  which  the  servants  were  crowded.  Columns  sup- 
ported the  chief  apartments,  those  where  the  Pharaoh 


A    FORGOTTEN    CAPITAL  67 

gave  audience,  but  the  material  of  the  partition 
walls  and  of  the  pillars  was  invariably  covered  with 
white  stucco  or  lime-wash,  on  which  scenes  from 
private  life  were  painted  in  bright  colours.  The  pave- 
ment was  painted  like  the  walls.  In  one  of  the  apart- 
ments, apparently  used  by  the  women,  a  picture  of  a 
rectangular  basin  filled  with  fish  can  still  be  seen. 
Tufts  of  water-plants  and  flowering  shrubs  adorn  the 
banks,  among  which  birds  are  flying  and  calves  are 
frisking;  small  tables  laden  with  fruits  stand  in  rows 
to  the  right  and  left,  and  a  file  of  negro  and  Syrian 
prisoners,  separated  by  enormous  arches,  are  displayed 
on  the  short  sides.  The  tonality  of  the  whole  is  clear 
and  bright;  the  animals  are  drawn  with  a  breadth  and 
freedom  and  facility  that  surprise  and  delight  the  visitor. 
Flinders  Petrie  has  picked  up  fragments  of  statues 
representing  Khouniatonou,  his  wife,  and  the  members 
of  their  family,  all  over  the  ruins.  He  has  even  found 
a  plaster  mask,  so  remarkably  life-like  that  he  does  not 
hesitate  to  recognize  it  as  the  sovereign's  death  mask, 
taken  a  very  few  moments  after  death  as  a  model 
for  the  sculptors  who  were  to  decorate  the  tomb. 
They  are  the  most  interesting  pieces  to  study.  The 
first,  which  go  back  to  the  beginning  of  the  reign,  are 
conceived  in  the  conventional  style  customary  for  royal 
statues  under  the  XVIIIth  Dynasty.  Amenothes  IV  is 
scarcely  to  be  distinguished  from  his  father  Amenothes 
III;  he  has  the  regular  and  somewhat  heavy  features 
and  the  idealized  body  of  the  orthodox  Pharaohs.  We 
might  say  that  in  renouncing  his  name,  he  wished  to 
renounce  his  face,  for  his  portraits,  at  the  time  when  he 
was  named  Khouniatonou,  give  him  a  paradoxical  ap- 
pearance. They  have  a  long,  narrow  head,  culminating 
in  a  sugar  loaf,  a  receding  forehead,  a  large,  aquiline, 
pointed  nose,  a  small  mouth,  an  enormous  chin  jutting 
forward  awkwardly,  and  attached  to  a  long,  thin  neck; 


68      NEW   LIGHT    ON   ANCIENT   EGYPT 

no  shoulders  or  muscles  to  speak  of,  but  so  round  a 
chest,  so  balloon-like  a  stomach,  such  broad  hips  on  such 
fat  thighs,  that  we  might  imagine  ourselves  to  be  look- 
ing at  a  woman.  The  general  outline  easily  lends  itself  to 
caricature,  and  contemporary  artists  have  so  exagger- 
ated the  details,  intentionally  perhaps,  that  it  is  almost 
grotesque;  the  man  himself,  however,  had  nothing 
ridiculous  about  him,  and  in  some  of  his  portraits  he 
possesses  a  languid  grace,  as  if  due  to  delicate  health, 
which  is  not  without  dignity.  He  seems,  to  have  been 
good  and  affectionate;  he  loved  his  wife  passionately, 
and  he  associated  her  with  the  acts  of  his  reign.  If  he 
went  out  to  climb  up  to  the  temple,  she  accompanied 
him  in  a  chariot.  If  he  publicly  honoured  a  servant, 
she  stood  by  him  and  helped  him  to  distribute  the  gold 
decorations.  She  worshipped  the  "  Solar  Disk  "  with 
him,  she  served  him  in  the  intimacy  of  private  life  when 
in  the  harem  he  laid  aside  the  cares  of  public  business, 
and  they  were  so  united  that  one  bas-relief  shows  her 
seated  lovingly  on  her  husband's  knees,  a  posture  of 
which  we  do  not  know  any  other  example.  They  had  six 
daughters,  whom  they  brought  up  to  live  with  them 
in  unrestrained  familiarity;  the  girls  accompanied  their 
parents  wherever  they  went,  and  played  about  the  throne 
while  they  fulfilled  their  royal  duties.  The  gentleness 
and  gaiety  of  the  masters  was  reflected  in  the  life  of 
the  subjects;  the  pictures  we  have  of  it  are  filled  with 
processions,  cavalcades,  banquets,  amusements.  The 
Pharaoh  rewards  the  high  priest  Maririya  with  golden 
collars  for  his  services;  the  people  dance  round  him 
with  joy.  Houiya  returns  from  Syria,  and  solemnly 
offers  the  tribute  collected  during  his  inspection  of  the 
Asiatic  provinces;  the  sovereign  renders  thanks  to  his 
god,  carried  in  his  palanquin  on  his  officers'  shoulders, 
to  the  singing  of  hymns  and  the  swinging  of  large  fans. 
Prince  Ai  marries  the  nurse  of  one  of  the  princesses; 


A    FORGOTTEN   CAPITAL  69 

the  whole  town  disports  itself,  and  drinks  deeply  at  the 
wedding.  Do  not  imagine  that  such  continual  festivals 
were  harmful  to  the  administration  of  the  State : 
Khouniatonou  carefully  watched  over  the  foreign  policy, 
and  the  prestige  of  Egypt  suffered  neither  in  Ethiopia 
nor  in  Syria. 

When  examined  at  close  quarters  the  ruins  of  the 
private  dwellings  are  even  more  curious  than  those  of 
the  palace.  They  show  us  what  a  town  was  like  at  the 
time  of  the  great  Egyptian  power,  and  how  the  people 
lived  while  its  chiefs  were  enriching  themselves  with 
the  treasures  of  Africa  and  Asia.  Some  of  the  houses 
evidently  belonged  to  nobles,  and  furnish  an  idea  of  the 
comfort  with  which  the  wealthy  surrounded  themselves : 
lofty  ceilings,  supported  on  columns  under  which  it  was 
cool  during  the  heat  of  the  day;  small  bedrooms  of  a 
pleasant  aspect;  immense  store-houses  for  provisions 
and  material;  kitchens  well  supplied  with  stoves.  The 
houses  of  the  common  people  are  small  but  convenient, 
and  are  much  like  the  dwellings  of  a  citizen  in  easy 
circumstances  in  Upper  Egypt  at  the  present  day.  The 
pictures  drawn  in  the  hypogeums  complete  the  work  of 
the  excavations,  and  with  their  help  we  can  restore  in 
imagination  the  furniture  and  decoration.  Fragments 
of  plates  and  dishes  and  kitchen  utensils  supply  positive 
information  about  their  food.  Flinders  Petrie  collected 
necks  of  amphorae  by  the  hundred,  on  which  informa- 
tion as  to  their  contents  is  stamped  or  written ;  they  are 
for  the  most  part  wines  of  different  growths  and  years, 
but  also  palm  wine,  oil,  honey,  liqueurs,  preserves,  all 
of  the  best  that  was  eaten  and  drunk  at  the  tables  of 
the  Pharaohs.  We  can  imagine  the  common  people 
occupied  in  the  employments  usual  in  a  big  city  at  that 
period,  but  only  two  important  industries  have  left 
sensible  traces,  that  of  the  glass-maker  and  the  potter. 
The  Egyptians  of  the  XVIIIth  Dynasty  were  extremely 


70      NEW   LIGHT   ON   ANCIENT   EGYPT 

fond  of  enamelled  pottery :  the  instinct  of  physical 
cleanliness,  which  was  strongly  developed  in  them,  made 
them  greatly  value  for  ordinary  use  vases  and  utensils 
and  jewellery  covered  with  enamel,  which  was  as 
easy  to  keep  clean  and  to  wash  as  it  was  cool  to  look 
at  and  to  touch.  Flinders  Petrie  discovered  several 
places  where  glass  and  coloured  enamels  were  worked, 
and  he  has  reconstructed  the  manipulations  in  detail. 
He  describes  the  ovens,  the  crucibles,  some  of  which 
are  still  rilled  with  vitreous  paste,  ashes,  the  refuse  of 
the  manufacture :  analysis  has  revealed  the  composition 
of  several  kinds  of  coloured  glass.  It  is  a  curious 
chapter  in  the  history  of  ancient  glass  making,  and  it 
is  to  be  wished  that  all  directors  of  excavations  would 
attach  as  much  importance  to  the  discovery  of  similar 
objects  :  we  should  soon  come  to  know  thoroughly  the 
material  and  technique  of  the  industries,  the  marvellous 
products  of  which  are  daily  unearthed.  Several  of  the 
sculptors'  studios  contain  models,  sketches,  rough  drafts, 
rapidly  thrown  off  or  retouched,  for  the  unfinished 
statues  no  longer  rare  in  our  museums ;  what  they  offer 
us  that  is  new  is  a  sufficiently  considerable  number  of 
plaster  castings.  I  obtained  several  pieces  of  the  sort 
at  Thebes,  Abydos  and  Coptos,  but  they  were  mixed  up 
with  objects  of  such  different  dates  that  it  was  impos- 
sible to  fix  their  period,  and  decide  if  they  belonged  to 
the  Graeco-Roman  time,  or  if  they  went  back  to  the  age 
of  the  Pharaohs.  It  must  now  be  admitted  that  the 
sculptors  of  the  great  Theban  epoch  readily  employed 
plaster  castings,  and  several  facts,  recently  ill  under- 
stood, urge  me  to  believe  that  the  sculptors  of  Memphis 
employed  it  equally  often  and  with  equal  skill. 

The  bas-reliefs  that  decorate  the  tombs  of  El-Amarna 
are  as  eccentric  in  manner  as  the  statues  and  paintings 
brought  to  light  in  the  town.  The  pictures  bear  little 
resemblance  to  those  of  the  Theban  tombs  of  the  same 


A    FORGOTTEN   CAPITAL  71 

century,  and  it  has  therefore  been  concluded  that  the 
religious  revolution  brought  with  it  a  revolution  in  art. 
But  that  is  a  manifest  exaggeration,  and  as  soon  as  the 
matter  is  thoroughly  examined  we  are  compelled  to 
alter  our  opinion.  The  difference  lies  much  more  in  the 
nature  of  the  scenes  than  in  the  manner  in  which  they 
are  executed.  In  conventions,  drawing,  composition, 
the  artists  of  El-Amarna  do  not  differ  in  essentials  from 
those  who  flourished  in  Thebes  at  that  time.  This  is 
explained  if  we  reflect  on  the  conditions  in  which  they 
were  recruited.  The  king  reserved  for  himself  the  men 
who  had  worked  for  his  father,  the  Thebans  or  pro- 
vincials trained  in  the  Theban  school,  and  no  detail  is  to 
be  observed  in  his  statues  that  distinguishes  them  from 
those  of  Amenothes  III  :  the  perfection  of  both  is 
similar.  The  contractors  for  the  funeral  ceremonies 
who  undertook  to  prepare  the  tombs  would  not  certainly 
have  found  the  sculptors  they  needed  in  the  locality 
itself  :  the  people  who  had  hitherto  lived  at  El-Amarna 
were  too  poor  to  aspire  to  the  luxury  of  a  decorated 
tomb.  The  larger  number  of  workmen  must  have  been 
procured  partly  from  Thebes  and  partly  from  Hermopo- 
lis,  the  nearest  city^  the  provincials  were  naturally 
less  skilful  than  the  others,  and,  in  fact,  after  a  visit  to 
the  tombs  of  El-Amarna,  we  willingly  admit  that  their 
technique  is  rough  and  awkward.  They  possess  nothing 
that  can  be  compared,  even  a  long  way  off,  with  the 
bas-reliefs  of  Houiya  or  of  Khamhait  at  Thebes.  They 
please  the  eye  by  the  variety  of  their  subjects,  and  by 
the  freedom  of  their  method.  According  to  tradition 
the  dead,  whose  last  dwelling-place  they  furnished, 
wished,  in  recalling  the  principal  acts  of  their  life,  to 
assure  their  doubles  of  the  possession  of  the  rank  and 
dignities  they  had  enjoyed  in  this  world;  as  they  ought 
to  find  them  again  with  the  god  of  Khouitatonou,  they 
had  their  career  at  Khouitatonou  painted,  their  inter- 


72       NEW   LIGHT    ON   ANCIENT   EGYPT 

views  with  the  king,  the  rewards  they  had  received,  the 
ceremonial  which  had  accompanied  their  visits  to  court. 
It  is  thus  a  question  of  archaeology,  and  not  one  of 
evolution  in  the  development  of  Egyptian  art.  The 
honest  artisans  who  covered  the  walls  with  their  sketches 
only  thought  to  interpret  to  the  best  of  their  ability  the 
patterns  that  the  master-designers,  the  ganouatiou,  gave 
out  to  them,  who  themselves  had  only  fitted  the  motives 
used  at  Thebes  or  in  the  rest  of  Egypt  to  the  worship 
of  Atonou  and  to  the  new  city. 

The  town  prospered  while  its  founder  supported  it; 
but  that  was  for  a  very  short  time.  Petrie  and  Griffith 
have  cleverly  succeeded  in  restoring  the  chronology 
of  that  epoch;  they  reckon  that  the  king  died  in  the 
eighteenth  year  of  his  reign.  His  daughters  succeeded 
him  in  the  order  of  primogeniture,  or  rather  the  hus- 
bands of  his  daughters.  First  Samankhkeriya,  then 
Toutanoukhamanou,  then  Ai.  Khouniatonou  had  only 
had  one  sincere  believer  in  his  religion — himself;  when 
he  died  the  zeal  of  the  others  cooled,  and  the  wor- 
ship of  Amon  again  prevailed.  The  work  of  numerous 
generations  is  not  to  be  destroyed  in  a  day,  and 
Thebes  had  too  long  held  the  first  rank  for  the  caprice 
or  hatred  of  one  man  to  overturn  her  so  quickly. 
Khouniatonou  determined  to  replace  her  by  a  new  city, 
and  had  he  lived  he  would  doubtless  have  persisted  to 
the  end  in  his  desire  to  displace  her.  His  successors, 
Thebans  by  origin,  vassals  of  Amon  by  birth,  had  no 
motive  in  persevering.  Samankhkeriya  had  probably 
only  a  very  brief  reign,  but  Toutanoukhamanou  occupied 
the  throne  for  some  time,  and  he  had  not  reigned  for 
more  than  three  or  four  years  before  he  abandoned  "  the 
Horizon  of  the  Disk  "  and  the  Disk  itself.  He  returned 
to  Thebes,  took  part  in  the  ceremonies  of  the  old  wor- 
ship; his  brother-in-law  A!,  who  succeeded  him,  acted 
in  the  same  manner.  The  court  followed  their  example, 


A    FORGOTTEN   CAPITAL  73 

and  the  town  faded  away  as  rapidly  as  it  had  blossomed 
forth.  The  life  of  the  streets  stopped,  the  palaces  and 
temples  were  deserted,  the  tombs  remained  unfinished  or 
unoccupied;  its  patron  became  again  what  he  had  been 
formerly,  an  adventurer  god  relegated  to  the  third  or 
fourth  rank  in  the  Egyptian  Pantheon.  The  town 
vegetated  for  a  short  time  longer,  thanks  to  the  in- 
dustries which  had  been  planted  there ;  then  the  enamel 
factories  were  closed  and  the  workmen  migrated  to 
Thebes  or  Hermopolis.  "  The  Horizon  of  Atonou  "  was 
erased  from  the  list  of  nomes,  and  soon  nothing  was 
left  of  what  had  for  a  moment  been  the  capital  of  the 
empire,  but  a  heap  of  falling  ruins  and  two  or  three 
fellaheen  villages  scattered  about  the  western  bank  of 
the  Nile.  The  royal  palace  was  not  only  abandoned,  it 
was  deliberately  and  purposely  dismantled  and  despoiled 
of  the  works  of  art  it  contained.  Only  valueless  objects 
were  left  behind,  and  among  them  a  portion  of  the 
diplomatic  correspondence  carried  on  by  Amenothes  III 
and  Amenothes  IV  with  the  governors  of  Syria,  or  with 
the  independent  sovereigns  of  Mitani,  Assyria  and 
Chaldaea. 

A  fortunate  chance  revealed  to  us  the  history  of  this 
ephemeral  greatness,  but  during  the  forty  centuries  that 
ancient  Egypt  lasted  how  many  of  these  capitals  of  a 
day  must  there  not  have  been,  called  to  life  by  a 
Pharaoh's  caprice  and  left  to  decay  by  a  Pharaoh's 
disdain  !  The  sovereigns  who  built  the  pyramids  had 
each  theirs,  and  Memphis  itself,  before  becoming  the 
metropolis  of  the  whole  country,  was  merely  the 
temporary  residence  of  Pioupi  I,  one  of  the  most  cele- 
brated monarchs  of  the  Vlth  Dynasty.  The  valley 
was  sown  with  these  dead  or  dying  cities,  and  their 
fate  suggested  matter  for  melancholy  reflections  to 
moralists  and  poets:  "I  have  heard  what  happened 
to  our  ancestors  :  their  walls  are  destroyed,  their  place 


74       NEW   LIGHT   ON   ANCIENT   EGYPT 

is  vanished."  A  few  escaped  destruction,  for  example  the 
residences  of  Sanouosrit  (Ousirtasen)  II  and  of  Amen- 
emhait  III,  which  Petrie  has  explored  near  the  entrance 
of  Fayoum.  The  houses  there  are  almost  intact,  whole 
quarters  of  the  city  are  still  standing,  and  furniture 
abounds,  chiefly  that  of  the  poor  or  of  the  lower  middle 
classes,  very  valuable  to  us  from  its  antiquity,  for  it 
goes  back  further  than  the  thirteenth  century  B.C. 
The  ruins  of  El-Amarna  have  suffered  greatly  from 
time  and  from  men,  but  we  know  the  exact  date  at 
which  the  town  was  built,  as  well  as  that  at  whicfi 
it  was  abandoned,  the  circumstances  that  favoured 
its  rise  and  hastened  its  fall,  the  god  worshipped 
there,  the  life  led  there  by  the  people.  The  history 
of  Egypt,  when  contemplated  from  a  distance,  seems 
uniform,  accidents  are  effaced  and  disappear;  but  if  we 
approach  nearer,  a  multitude  of  details  become  detached 
from  its  course,  and  a  multitude  of  incidents  which 
break  the  monotony  are  distinguished.  Leaving  aside 
murders  of  princes  and  the  dramas  of  the  harem, 
Egypt's  religious  or  political  revolutions  have  been  as 
numerous  and  as  unexpected  as  those  of  modern  empires. 
We  know  almost  exactly  what  happened  at  El-Amarna 
under  Amenothes  IV;  many  similar  episodes  will  come 
to  light  when  excavations  carried  on  as  conscientiously 
as  those  of  Flinders  Petrie  shall  compel  the  earth  to 
restore  the  documents  it  has  so  long  kept  hidden. 


VIII 

THE  TEMPLE   OF   DEfR   EL-BAHARI 

TRAVELLERS  who  visited  the  ruins  of  Thebes  five  or 
six  years  ago  doubtless  remember  what  a  strangely 
desolate  aspect  the  valley  of  Deir  El-Bahari  then  pre- 
sented. Portions  of  walls  were  seen  sticking  out  of  the 
sand  in  inextricable  confusion,  fragments  of  statues  and 
columns  lay  about  in  company  with  two  terraces  placed 
one  on  the  other,  abutting  on  porticoes  more  than  half 
buried  under  the  rubbish;  a  vault  might  be  seen,  the 
dislocated  blocks  of  which  threatened  to  fall  at  the  least 
movement;  close  by  were  granite  doors  framed  in  the 
ruins  of  delicately-sculptured  white  limestone  partition 
walls,  and  dominating  all  stood  a  miserable  tower  of 
dried  bricks  of  a  dirty  grey  colour,  the  only  fragment 
then  standing  of  a  Copt  monastery  built  on  the  founda- 
tions of  the  pagan  edifice.  The  physiognomy  of  the 
site  is  now  completely  changed.  The  tower  has  been 
demolished,  and  the  sand  no  longer  hides  the  balus- 
trades and  columns.  On  the  northern  side  of  the  valley 
a  portico  has  been  dug  out  of  marvellous  elegance  and 
exquisite  proportions;  the  best  period  of  Greek  art 
produced  nothing  of  greater  delicacy  or  charm.  Naville 
and  his  lieutenants  in  three  winters  brought  to  light 
perhaps  the  most  original  monuments  that  are  our 
legacy  from  the  Pharaohs  of  the  great  Theban  Dynas- 
ties. Mariette  began  the  attack,  and  the  result  gained 
made  him  persevere  in  his  enterprise  even  when  money 
was  lacking;  Naville,  better  equipped,  with  more 

75 


76       NEW   LIGHT   ON   ANCIENT   EGYPT 

resources  and  less  burdened  with  administrative  work, 
will  leave  nothing  for  future  students  to  do.1 

What  has  been  found  is  the  mausoleum  of  two  kings, 
Thoutmosis  I  and  Thoutmosis  II,  built  by  themselves, 
and  of  a  queen,  Hatshopsouitou,  daughter  of  one  and 
wife  of  the  other.  Hatshopsouitou  appropriated  it  to 
herself,  and  allowed  the  men  of  the  family  only  the 
strictly  necessary  space.  On  the  death  of  her  husband 
she  reigned  alone,  and  desiring  to  show  posterity  what  a 
woman  could  do  when  entrusted  with  the  administration 
of  an  empire,  she  engraved  and  painted  pictures  on  the 
walls  illustrating  in  detail  her  principal  acts.  Mariette 
published  nearly  all  that  illustrate  the  maritime  expedi- 
tion to  the  land  of  incense;  Naville  unearthed  others 
completing  those  which  describe  in  detail  the  memorable 
voyage.  Hatshopsouitou  is  anxious  to  tell  us  herself 
that  one  day  when  she  was  praying  in  the  temple  of 
Amon,  "  her  supplications  ascended  to  the  throne  of  the 
master  of  Karnak,  and  in  the  Holy  of  Holies  an  order 
was  heard,  a  command  of  the  god  to  explore  the  ways 
that  led  to  Pouanit,  to  traverse  the  roads  leading  to  the 
'  Ports  of  Incense.'  '  The  Theban  priests  could  only 
procure  the  essences  required  for  the  sacrifices  through 
foreign  traders;  and  thus  the  essences  were  exposed  to 
injury  in  the  slow  transit  in  Africa,  and  were  soiled  by 
the  contact  of  impure  hands.  Besides,  the  traders  con- 
fused, under  the  single  name  anatiou,  substances  of  very 
different  origin  and  quality,  several  of  which  could 
scarcely  be  regarded  as  perfumes,  or  were  reputed  not 
to  be  pleasing  to  the  gods.  One  kind  that  is  still  found 
in  Somaliland,  and  there  only,  pleased  them  more  than  all 
others;  but  "  no  one  any  longer  ascends  to  the  '  Forts,' 
none  of  the  Egyptians,  and  if  the  ports  are  spoken 
of,  it  is  only  from  hearsay."  They  were  remembered 

1  G.  Naville  :  Deir  El-Bahari,  1892-1893  ;  Detr  El-Bahari,  Part  I, 
1893-1894;  Deir  El-Bahari,  Part  II,  1894-1895,  London. 


TEMPLE   OF   DElR   EL-BAHARl  77 

as  a  region  situated  in  the  distant  south  or  east.  Amon 
undertook  to  describe  it  and  reveal  its  whereabouts. 
"  The  '  Ports  '  form  a  secret  district  of  Tonoutir;  it  is, 
in  fact,  a  place  of  delight.  I  created  it,  and  wish  to  con- 
duct your  Majesty  thither,  so  that  incense  can  be  taken 
at  will  and  vessels  laden  with  it  in  all  joy,  living  trees 
of  incense  and  all  the  products  of  that  land."  Hat- 
shopsouitou  chose  five  sound  ships,  equipped  them  in 
the  most  approved  fashion,  loaded  them  with  goods 
likely  to  find  favour  with  the  savages,  and  launched 
them  in  the  Red  Sea  on  the  track  of  the  incense. 

We  do  not  know  from  what  port  the  squadron  set  out, 
nor  how  many  days  it  took  to  reach  Pouanit.  It  passed 
Saouakin,  Massaouah;  it  touched  at  the  Him,  who  in- 
habited the  latitudes  of  Bab-el-Mandeb ;  it  crossed  the 
strait,  and  at  last  reached  the  coast  of  Somali,  the  land 
which  produced  the  incense.  The  barbarous  region 
visited  later  by  Greek  and  Roman  merchants  stretched 
from  the  bay  of  Zeilah  to  Ras-Hafoun.  The  first  stations 
they  encountered  on  issuing  from  the  Red  Sea,  Avalis, 
Malao,  Moundos,  Mosyllon  were  unsafe,  exposed  road- 
steads; but  beyond  Mosyllon  they  found  several  creeks 
(wadys),  of  which  the  last,  the  Elephant  river,  situated 
between  Ras-el-Fil  and  Cape  Guardafui,  seems  to  have 
allowed  of  ships  of  shallow  draught  ascending  it.  It 
was  there,  probably,  that  Hatshopsouitou's  sailors  made 
land.  They  went  up  the  river  as  far  as  the  point  where 
the  tides  are  no  longer  felt,  and  stopped  in  sight  of 
a  village  scattered  along  the  bank  amid  sycamores  and 
palms.  Round  huts  were  to  be  seen  with  conical 
roofs,  and  no  opening  except  the  door;  they  were 
perched  on  piles  as  a  protection  from  wild  beasts  or 
floods,  and  they  were  entered  by  movable  ladders. 
Oxen  lying  under  the  trees  chewed  the  cud.  The  natives 
were  tall,  slender,  and  of  a  colour  varying  between  brick- 
red  and  a  brown  so  dark  as  to  be  almost  black.  The 


78       NEW   LIGHT   ON   ANCIENT   EGYPT 

beard  ended  in  a  point,  and  the  hair  was  sometimes  cut 
short  and  sometimes  arranged  in  rows  of  small  curls, 
or  fell  over  the  shoulders  in  thin  locks.  The  men's 
costume  was  merely  a  waist-cloth,  the  women's  a  yellow 
sleeveless  robe,  tied  at  the  waist,  falling  half-way  down 
the  legs.  The  commander  of  the  squadron  disembarked 
at  first  with  eight  soldiers.  He  displayed  the  various 
gifts  on  a  low  table :  five  bracelets,  two  gold  collars,  a 
poniard  with  its  sheath  and  belt,  a  battle-axe,  eleven 
strings  of  glass  beads.  The  people,  dazzled  by  the  sight 
of  so  many  precious  things,  with  their  chief  at  their 
head,  ran  to  meet  him,  and  showed  a  very  natural  aston- 
ishment. "How,"  they  asked,  "did  you  reach  this 
country  unknown  to  men  ?  Have  you  descended  by  the 
paths  of  the  sky,  or  have  you  sailed  by  water  on  the  land 
of  Tonoutir?  You  have  followed  the  road  of  the  Sun, 
for  no  one  can  be  out  of  the  way  of  the  king  of  the  land 
of  Egypt,  and  his  breath  is  our  life."  Their  chief  was 
named  Parihou,  and  was  distinguished  from  his  subjects 
by  a  boomerang  he  brandished  in  his  hand,  by  his 
dagger  and  glass  necklace;  his  right  leg  was  hidden 
by  a  sort  of  sheath  made  of  rings  of  a  yellow  metal, 
probably  gold.  His  wife,  Atoui,  possessed  the  sort  of 
beauty  which  is  pleasing  in  those  countries,  a  greasy 
puffiness  in  which  the  lines  of  the  body  are  lost  under 
a  mass  of  flesh.  The  first  courtesies  exchanged,  the 
Egyptians  began  on  serious  business.  They  set  up  a 
tent  in  which  they  stored  the  wares  they  had  brought, 
and  to  prevent  temptation  surrounded  it  with  a  cordon 
of  troops.  The  principal  conditions  of  the  bargain  were 
settled  at  a  banquet;  each  article  was  paid  for  immedi- 
ately on  delivery.  For  several  days  there  was  a  con- 
tinual procession  of  persons  driving  donkeys  laden  with 
produce.  The  purchases  of  the  Egyptians  consisted  of 
a  little  of  everything :  elephants'  teeth,  gold,  ebony, 
cassia,  myrrh,  baboons  and  apes,  greyhounds,  leopard 


TEMPLE   OF   DElR   EL-BAHARl  79 

skins,  oxen,  slaves,  even  thirty-one  incense-trees  up- 
rooted with  their  mould  and  transplanted  in  baskets. 
The  stowage  was  long  and  difficult;  when  there  was  no 
more  room  on  board  and  the  ships  were  filled  to  over- 
flowing, they  set  sail  and  steered  for  the  north. 

On  their  return  the  queen  held  high  festival  in 
their  honour ;  the  Theban  troops  came  out  to  meet  them ; 
the  royal  flotilla  escorted  them  to  the  landing-stage  of 
the  temple,  where  they  formed  in  procession  to  go  and 
offer  their  booty  to  the  god.  The  good  people  of  Thebes, 
assembled  to  see  them,  admired  the  procession,  the  bar- 
barous hostages,  the  incense-trees,  the  incense  itself,  the 
cats,  the  giraffe,  the  oxen,  which  the  chronicles  of  the 
time,  with  the  usual  official  exaggeration,  reckon  by 
hundreds  and  thousands.  The  trees  were  planted  at 
Deir  El-Bahari,  and  a  sacred  garden  was  improvised  for 
them;  square  trenches  were  dug  in  the  rock  and  filled 
with  earth,  and  being  well  watered  they  flourished  there. 
In  the  course  of  his  excavations  Naville  found  the  drain- 
ing wells,  the  mud  they  contained,  the  vegetable  rubbish 
heaped  in  them.  The  big  piles  of  fragrant  vegetable 
matter  became  the  object  of  special  care ;  Hatshopsouitou 
"  gave  a  silver-gilt  bushel  measure  to  gauge  the  mass  of 
gums,  the  first  time  the  perfumes  were  measured  for 
Amon,  lord  of  Karnak,  master  of  the  heaven,  and  pre- 
sent to  him  the  marvels  that  Pouanit  produced.  Thot, 
the  lord  of  Hermopolis,  registered  the  amounts  in  writ- 
ing, the  goddess  Safkhitaboui  audited  the  accounts.  Her 
Majesty  made  an  aromatic  essence  with  her  own  hands 
with  which  to  anoint  her  person ;  she  exhaled  the  odour 
of  the  divine  dew,  its  perfume  penetrated  to  Pouanit, 
her  skin  shone  like  gold,  and  her  face  like  the  stars  in 
the  large  Festival  Hall."  The  claims  of  piety  satisfied, 
those  of  coquetry  had  their  turn,  and  the  woman  reap- 
peared beneath  the  monarch.  The  bas-reliefs  of  Deir  El- 
Bahari  show  the  little  squadron  going  with  full  sail 


8o       NEW   LIGHT    ON   ANCIENT   EGYPT 

towards  the  unknown,  its  arrival  at  the  end  of  its 
voyage,  the  meeting  with  the  natives,  the  emphatic 
palavers,  the  bargain  freely  concluded,  and  thanks  to 
the  minute  care  with  which  the  smallest  details  of  the 
action  are  drawn,  we  assist  as  if  we  had  been  present  at 
the  various  operations  comprised  in  the  maritime  life 
not  only  of  the  Egyptians,  but  of  other  Eastern  nations. 
The  Phoenicians,  when  they  adventured  into  the  distant 
waters  of  the  Mediterranean,  must  certainly  have 
equipped  and  managed  their  ships  in  a  similar  manner. 
The  scenery  of  the  places  on  the  Grecian  and  Asiatic 
coasts  on  which  they  disembarked  is  not  the  same  as 
that  of  Pouanit,  but  they  used  the  same  objects  of  barter, 
and  they  acted  in  regard  to  the  tribes  of  Europe  exactly 
as  the  Egyptians  did  in  regard  to  the  barbarians  of  the 
Red  Sea. 

The  honour  of  discovering  this  chapter  of  history 
belongs  almost  entirely  to  Mariette.1  One  thing,  how- 
ever, belongs  to  Naville  and  to  him  alone  :  a  series 
of  pictures  illustrating  and  describing  the  circum- 
stances that  preceded  and  accompanied  the  birth  of 
the  queen.  The  action  passes  partly  among  the  gods, 
partly  among  mortals.  We  learn  how  one  night  the 
Princess  Ahmosis,  wife  of  the  Pharaoh,  Thoutmosis  I, 
reposing  in  the  harem,  was  suddenly  awakened  by  a 
bright  light  and  a  strong  perfume.  The  god  Amonra 
had  deserted  his  sanctuary  of  Karnak  for '  her ;  after 
honouring  her  with  his  caresses,  he  announced  to  her 
that  a  child  would  be  born  of  his  divine  love  who  would 
have  a  glorious  reign  and  a  long  life  "  on  the  throne  of 
the  Horus  of  the  living."  He  then  vanished,  and  in  the 
next  picture  Ahmosis  had  reached  the  term  of  her  preg- 
nancy. The  guardian  divinities  of  women  in  travail 
lead  her  gently  to  her  bed  of  pain,  and  the  expression 
of  fatigue  on  her  features,  the  languishing  charm  of  her 
1  Marietta:  Deir El-Bahar$,  Leipzig,  1876. 


TEMPLE   OF   DElR   EL-BAHARl  Si 

whole  person,  makes  her  portrait  a  fine  piece  of  sculp- 
ture. The  child,  the  daughter,  who,  in  the  near  future, 
will  be  the  Queen  Hatshopsouitou,  enters  the  world  amid 
shouts  of  joy;  propitious  genii  receive  her;  goddesses 
give  her  suck,  gods  give  her  a  royal  education.  Years 
pass  by;  she  is  the  heir  of  the  Egyptian  throne,  the 
successor  appointed  to  reign.  Her  father,  Thoutmosis, 
summons  the  delegates  of  the  country  and  presents 
her  to  them.  He  enumerates  her  titles  in  long  flowery 
orations,  and  places  the  pschent  on  her  head;  she  is 
thenceforth  Pharaoh,  and  she  tries  her  best  to  dissimu- 
late that  she  is  a  woman.  She  modifies  her  name,  Hat- 
shopsouitou, which  means  the  chief  of  the  august  favour- 
ites among  the  women,  by  a  masculine  termination  that 
changes  the  signification  into  the  chief  of  the  august 
favourites.  In  the  public  ceremonies  she  wears  the  cos- 
tume of  a  man ;  on  the  monuments  her  chest  is  bared, 
her  bosom  flat,  her  hips  slender,  she  wears  a  short  waist- 
cloth,  the  diadem  or  helmet  is  placed  on  smooth  hair,  a 
beard  is  fastened  to  her  chin ;  indeed,  she  keeps  nothing 
of  the  woman  except  the  habit  of  speaking  of  herself 
in  the  feminine  gender  on  the  inscriptions.  These  curi- 
ous scenes  of  divine  marriage,  destined  to  attach  the 
child  who  is  to  be  the  legitimate  ruler  of  the  city  directly 
to  the  god  of  the  city,  are  found  in  two  other  monu- 
ments of  a  different  epoch,  and  perhaps  other  examples 
will  be  discovered;  in  the  sanctuary  of  Louxor  it  is  the 
Pharaoh  Amenothes  III ;  in  that  of  Erment  it  is  Ptolemy 
Caesarion,  the  son  of  Caesar  and  Cleopatra,  whose  birth 
is  explained  in  this  mysterious  manner. 

According  to  the  theory  of  that  time,  the  king 
descended  directly  from  the  Sun,  the  god  who  created 
the  world,  and  was  the  first  to  reign  over  the  valley  of 
the  Nile.  As  no  one  who  did  not  touch  the  divine  race 
at  some  point  could  be  Pharaoh,  the  founders  of  Dynas- 
ties supplied  the  deficiencies  of  their  nobility  by  invent- 
6 


82       NEW   LIGHT   ON  ANCIENT   EGYPT 

ing  extraordinary  genealogies  which  attached  them  from 
on  high  to  a  former  Dynasty,  especially  by  marriage 
with  one  of  the  numerous  princesses  who  belonged  to 
the  harem  of  their  predecessors.  The  nobility  of  each 
member  of  a  family  and  his  right  to  power  were  commen- 
surate with  the  quality  of  the  solar  blood  which  flowed 
in  his  veins;  he  who  inherited  it  from  both  father 
and  mother  took  precedence  of  him  who  held  it  only 
from  either  father  or  mother.  But  one  of  the  most 
strictly  observed  of  Egyptian  laws  intervenes  there  to 
establish  distinctions  which  no  longer  hold  in  our  civil- 
ization. The  most  sacred  marriage  was  that  between 
brother  and  sister,  and  it  acquired  the  highest  degree  of 
perfection  if  the  brother  and  sister  in  question  were 
themselves  the  children  of  a  similar  marriage.  This 
peculiarity  of  Egyptian  manners,  which  seems  to  us  a 
refinement  of  incest,  was  regarded  as  an  institution  of 
divine  origin,  most  fitting  to  preserve  the  purity  of  the 
race.  It  produced  important  consequences  for  the  his- 
tory of  the  country,  and  a  great  number  of  legal  disposi- 
tions or  fictions  destined  to  palliate  its  effect  on  questions 
of  the  royal  succession,  or  to  supplement  the  lack  of 
legitimacy  which  it  brought  in  its  train,  to  the  detriment 
of  the  heirs  male.  If,  for  example,  as  his  heir,  a  sove- 
reign had  a  son  born  of  a  slave  or  of  a  concubine  of 
inferior  rank,  chosen  at  hazard  among  the  people,  and  a 
daughter  born  of  his  union  with  one  of  his  sisters  by 
his  father  and  mother,  she  was  really  the  heir  designate, 
and  the  boy  took  lower  rank.  They  were  married,  how- 
ever, but  their  children,  having  as  father  a  prince  crossed 
with  the  common  people,  and  mortal,  were  only  hybrids 
compounded  of  less  pure  matter.  Then  the  ancestral 
god  had  to  interfere.  Amon  deigned  to  descend  to 
earth,  and  taking  the  shape  of  the  husband,  united  him- 
self with  the  woman.  The  offspring  of  these  supernatural 
relations  was  of  the  pure  race  of  the  Sun,  and  could  give 


TEMPLE   OF   DEtR   EL-BAHARl          83 

birth  to  legitimate  princes  or  princesses.  Thoutm&sis  I 
was  only  of  half  solar  blood,  for  his  mother  was  an 
obscure  concubine,  and  his  wife  Ahm6sis  was  born  of 
brother  and  sister  parents,  King  Amenothes  I  and 
Queen  Ahhotpou  II;  to  compensate  for  his  inferiority 
the  assistance  of  Amon  was  called  in,  and  therefore  we 
see  at  Deir  El-Bahari  the  strange  scenes  discovered  by 
Naville. 


IX 

A  TRILINGUAL   INSCRIPTION   IN   PRAISE  OF  C.    CORNELIUS 
CALLUS,   PREFECT  OF  EGYPT 

IT  seems  very  unlikely  that  a  hieroglyphic  inscription 
could  help  to  determine  a  date  in  the  life  of  a  Latin 
author;  but  such  an  event  has  just  occurred.  Cap- 
tain Lyons,  to  whom  the  Egyptian  Government  recently 
entrusted  the  examination  of  the  sub-structure  of  the 
island  of  Philse,  came  across,  in  the  course  of  his  work, 
two  pieces  of  a  sandstone  stela,  used  at  that  time  by  the 
inhabitants  to  support  the  wall  of  a  house.  They  pre- 
serve the  remains  of  several  inscriptions,  one  above  the 
other,  the  first  in  Egyptian,  the  second  in  Latin,  and 
the  third  in  Greek.  All  are  in  praise  of  C.  Cornelius 
Gallus,  son  of  Cneius,  knight,  in  his  lifetime,  statesman, 
general,  and  poet.  He  was  born  at  Frejus,  in  Gaul,  and 
was  a  school-fellow  of  Virgil ;  he  was  thirty-nine  years 
old  when  the  favour  of  Augustus  appointed  him  the 
first  Roman  governor  of  the  province  of  Egypt.  The 
successive  defeats  of  Cleopatra  and  of  Antony  caused 
rebellions  that  it  was  his  chief  duty  to  quell.  The  task 
was  easy  in  the  neighbourhood  of  Alexandria  and 
Memphis,  the  districts  nearest  to  the  sea;  but  things 
were  more  troublesome  in  the  Said,  and  the  rebels  were 
only  put  down 'after  some  hard  fighting. 

The  views  held  by  the  races  who  dwelt  there  were  due 
to  their  political  condition.  In  spite  of  ten  centuries 
of  humiliation,  they  could  not  forget  that  they  had  for- 
merly ruled  the  whole  valley,  and  that  their  city  of 

84 


A    TRILINGUAL   INSCRIPTION  85 

Thebes  had  possessed  the  world.  When,  after  the  fall 
of  Ramses,  the  supremacy  devolved  on  the  cities  of  the 
Delta,  Memphis,  Tanis,  Bubastis,  Sais,  they  desired  to 
have  their  own  lords,  first  the  high-priests  of  Amon, 
then  princes  in  whom  the  blood  of  the  high-priests  was 
mingled  with  that  of  the  Ethiopian  Pharaohs.  They 
constituted  a  kind  of  autonomous  state,  semi-theocratic 
and  semi-warlike,  hostile  to  the  usurpers  of  the  north, 
and  continually  fighting  them  to  defend  their  independ- 
ence. Psammetichus,  Necho,  Amasis,  the  most  cele- 
brated representatives  of  the  last  national  Dynasties, 
were  not  obeyed  on  account  of  their  personal  title,  but 
because  they  married  princesses  in  whom  alone  the 
South  recognized  the  right  to  reign  over  them ;  while 
elsewhere  they  were  recognized  in  their  own  right,  in 
the  Thebai'd  they  were  tolerated  by  right  of  their  wives. 
When  the  last  of  them  died  without  issue,  there  were 
found  among  the  descendants  of  the  old  feudal  nobility 
persons  who  declared  that  some  far-off  alliance  united 
them  to  one  or  other  of  the  families  that  had  formerly 
worn  the  double  crown ;  they  entered  upon  the  heritage 
of  the  Thebans,  and  became  the  champions  of  Pharaonic 
legitimacy  against  foreign  conquerors,  Persians,  or 
Macedonians.  The  fellaheen  of  the  Said  seemed  un- 
touched by  outside  influences.  They  submitted  to  them 
because  they  did  not  feel  themselves  strong  enough  to 
throw  them  off,  and  outwardly  accepted  the  modifica- 
tions imposed  by  them  on  their  political  or  private  life. 
They  paid  the  tax,  rendered  military  service,  conformed 
to  the  rites  of  the  new  administration,  wrote  the  names 
of  the  Achaemenidae  and  Ptolemies  at  the  head  of  their 
decrees,  or  on  the  walls  of  their  temples ;  but  their  obedi- 
ence ended  with  these  outward  observances,  and  they 
kept  to  their  former  customs  and  ideas  in  everything  not 
expressly  commanded  by  the  foreign  governments. 
When  the  Greek  strategus  had  collected  the  taxes,  and 


86       NEW   LIGHT   ON   ANCIENT   EGYPT 

settled  business  about  which  they  were  compelled  to  con- 
sult him,  they  returned  to  their  usual  way  of  life,  which 
contained  all  the  forms  used  in  the  Egypt  of  the  Thout- 
mosis  or  Ramses.  The  Greek  was  no  longer  the  real 
head  of  the  state  for  them ;  the  true  ruler  was  the  noble, 
or  the  hereditary  priest,  and,  if  he  chanced  to  have  a 
few  drops  of  the  blood  royal  in  his  veins,  he  was  the 
rightful  king  whom  they  reverenced  secretly  until  the 
day  when  some  fortunate  circumstance  might  give 
them  courage  to  declare  him  king  de  facto,  and  to 
crown  him  publicly.  At  least  a  century  and  a  half 
before  the  death  of  Cleopatra  two  of  those  claimants 
were  successful  in  rousing  the  city  of  Thebes  itself, 
and  they  succeeded  each  other  on  the  throne  while  the 
Ptolemies  were  quarrelling  in  the  north.  They  were 
veritable  Pharaohs,  with  cartouches,  sceptres  in  the 
hand,  the  urasus  on  the  forehead,  the  traditional  helmets 
and  crowns;  they  held  sway  only  over  a  half-dozen 
towns  or  villages,  but  the  first  princes  of  the  Xlth  or 
XVIIth  Dynasties  had  begun  by  being  equally  unim- 
portant petty  kings,  and  their  original  weakness  did 
not  prevent  them  from  making  the  nomes  into  a  united 
state,  and  then  forming  an  immense  empire?  They 
had  not  time  to  strengthen  and  extend  their  authority; 
Ptolemy  Epiphanes  laid  his  hand  on  Thebes,  and 
chastised  the  rebels  in  a  cruel  manner.  He  did  not 
succeed  in  crushing  the  spirit  of  independence  that 
animated  the  land,  and  there  were  rebellions  after  his 
death,  the  last  of  which  was  only  put  down  by  Ptolemy 
Auletes  at  the  cost  of  a  bloody  war.  Thebes  suc- 
cumbed, after  a  long  siege,  in  67 ;  her  walls  were  razed 
to  the  ground,  her  population  scattered.  She  never 
recovered  the  blow  then  inflicted. 

Strabo  attributes  the  insurrection  which  broke  out 
against  the  Romans  in  the  south  directly  after  the  con- 
quest to  the  burden  of  the  heavy  taxes.  It  is  more  prob- 


A    TRILINGUAL   INSCRIPTION  87 

able  that  the  nomes  of  the  Said  profited  by  the  disorder 
preceding  Cleopatra's  death  to  drive  out  the  Greek 
garrisons  and  restore  the  local  Dynasties.  When  Alex- 
andria was  taken,  and  Egypt  annexed  to  the  Empire, 
they  naturally  refused  to  pay  to  the  new  master  the 
tribute  they  had  refused  to  the  old.  They  had,  doubt- 
less, only  confused  ideas  as  to  what  Rome  was;  they 
merely  knew  that  it  was  situated  somewhere  beyond 
the  seas,  and  believed  that  the  distance  would  save  them 
from  her  attacks.  Callus  was  forced  to  carry  on  the 
campaign  with  great  zeal  in  order  to  gain  possession 
of  a  people  who  would  not  bow  to  his  authority  :  "  C. 
Cornelius,  son  of  Cneius  Callus,  Roman  knight,  the 
first  prefect  of  Alexandria  and  Egypt  after  the  defeat 
of  the  kings  by  Caesar,  son  of  the  divine  Julius,  for 
having  subdued  the  rebellion  of  the  Thebaid  in  a  fort- 
night, during  which  he  twice  defeated  the  enemy  in 
drawn  battle,  for  having  taken  five  towns,  Boresis, 
Coptos,  Keramike,  Diospolis  the  Great,  Ophiaeon,  and 
having  killed  the  leaders  of  those  rebellions,  lor  having 
been  the  first  to  lead  an  army  beyond  the  cataract  of  the 
Nile,  to  which  place  neither  the  standards  of  the  Roman 
people,  nor  of  the  Egyptian  kings,  had  penetrated,  after 
having  subdued  the  Thebaid,  a  terror  common  to  all 
the  kings,  heard  near  Philae  the  envoys  of  the  king  of 
the  Ethiopians,  received  that  king  under  the  protection 
of  the  Roman  people,  placed  a  vassal  prince  in  the  Tria- 
contaschene  on  the  frontier  of  Ethiopia  [erected  this 
stela]  to  the  gods  of  the  country,  and  propitious  to  the 
Nile  [as  a  thanksgiving]."  This  refers  to  the  taking 
possession  and  the  organization  of  the  territories  that  for 
nearly  seven  centuries  to  come  belonged  to  the  Caesars, 
and  then  to  the  Byzantine  Emperors.  The  Pharaoh  of 
Ethiopia  wished  to  conciliate  his  neighbour,  and  sud- 
denly dispatched  an  embassy  to  him  to  knit  up  amicable 
relations.  Callus  pretended  to  see  a  sign  of  subjection 


88       NEW   LIGHT   ON   ANCIENT   EGYPT 

in  this  proceeding,  but  the  different  terms  he  employs 
in  the  Latin  and  in  the  Greek  in  order  to  express  his 
thought,  prove  that  he  knew  the  truth.  In  one  he 
speaks  of  the  protection  and  guardianship  accepted  by 
the  sovereign ;  in  the  other  he  merely  observes  that  the 
king  has  proposed  to  him  to  be  his  guest,  and  he  gives 
the  pretended  declaration  of  vassalage  its  character  of 
an  offer  of  consulship.  Dion  Cassius  explains  that  the 
enemies  of  Cornelius  Callus  later  accused  him  to  Augus- 
tus of  affecting  the  style  of  a  king  rather  than  that  of  a 
simple  governor,  and,  in  support  of  their  words,  quoted 
the  inscriptions  engraved  on  the  facing  of  the  pyramids 
of  Gizeh.  Displaced,  recalled  to  Rome,  and  feeling  him- 
self a  ruined  man,  he  killed  himself  to  escape  punish- 
ment, the  first  example  of  those  suicides  that  increased 
so  greatly  from  the  time  of  the  rule  of  Tiberius. 
Augustus  complained  that  he  had  been  robbed  of  his 
vengeance.  The  inscriptions  of  the  pyramids  no  longer 
exist,  but  those  of  Philae  offer  a  good  sample  of  what 
they  must  have  been,  and  their  tone  shows  that  the  man 
had  a  good  opinion  of  himself.  The  language  is  firm, 
and  the  turns  of  expression  exaggerated,  as  in  most  of 
the  inscriptions  of  that  period;  but  in  reading  them 
it  is  easy  to  imagine  that  Augustus  may  have  felt  some 
anxiety  about  the  fidelity  of  a  general  who  knew  so 
well  how  to  extol  his  own  merits. 

It  is  difficult  for  a  contemporary  not  to  be  reminded 
of  that  more  modern  inscription  found  in  a  good  posi- 
tion on  the  inner  post  of  the  great  door  at  Philae. 
Eighteen  centuries  after  the  Gaul,  Cornelius,  other 
Gauls,  sent  by  chance  to  Nubia,  and  wishing  to  leave 
behind  a  souvenir  of  their  presence,  recorded  in  lapidary 
style  how  in  "  the  year  VI  of  the  Republic,  the  i2th 
Messidor,  a  French  army,  commanded  by  Bonaparte, 
landed  at  Alexandria.  Twenty  days  later  the  army, 
having  put  the  Mamelukes  to  flight  at  the  Pyramids, 


A    TRILINGUAL   INSCRIPTION,  89 

Desaix,  commander  of  the  first  division,  pursued  them 
beyond  the  cataracts,  where  he  arrived  the  I3th 
Nivose  of  the  year  VII."  The  French  inscription  is 
simpler  than  the  Latin,  but  the  sentiment  at  base  is  the 
same  in  both.  In  this  age  of  rapid  communication  we 
regard  the  First  Cataract  as  a  place  rather  distant  from 
London  or  Paris,  but  to  be  reached  in  ten  days  by  any 
one  who  understands  how  to  arrange  the  journey.  The 
temples  of  Philae  are  visited  by  periodical  caravans  of 
cheap  tourists,  and  every  winter  the  Pronaos  is  the  scene 
of  almost  as  many  picnics  as  of  offerings  and  sacrifices 
in  pagan  times.  In  the  time  of  Augustus  the  island  was 
literally  at  the  end  of  the  world,  and  if  it  was  not  classed 
among  fabulous  lands,  it  was  placed  at  the  extreme 
borders  of  the  actual  world,  at  the  point  where  incredible 
marvels  began.  Any  number  of  stories  were  told  of  the 
height  of  the  cataract,  the  volume  of  the  water,  its 
deafening  noise,  the  boldness  with  which  the  dwellers 
on  the  banks  descended  it;  beyond  were  the  deserts  of 
Africa,  whence  some  new  monster  constantly  appeared, 
regions  haunted  by  sphinxes  and  onocentaurs,  overrun 
by  tribes  of  Oreillards  and  Sciapodes.  Desaix's  French- 
men did  not  believe  those  tales,  but  the  Voyage  of 
Denon,  or  the  Volumes  of  the  Description,  betray  the 
influence  of  those  memories  of  classical  antiquity,  and 
the  feelings  with  which  they  planted  their  flags  on  the 
rocks  where  the  legions  had  formerly  planted  their 
eagles.  Both  the  Romans  and  the  French  had  success- 
fully accomplished  in  a  few  weeks  what  had  seemed  an 
almost  impossible  enterprise.  We  can  well  understand 
that  they  did  not  wish  the  memory  of  it  to  be  lost. 
Cornelius  Callus  narrated  it  in  three  languages,  so 
that  none  who  came  after  him  should  fail  to  understand. 
The  stela  must  have  had  a  good  position,  and  above  the 
inscription  was  a  picture  which  attracted  attention ;  it 
presented  to  our  admiration  a  rider  crushing  fallen 


90      NEW   LIGHT   ON  ANCIENT   EGYPT 

barbarians  under  his  horse's  hoofs.  It  would  be  inter- 
esting to  know  the  exact  spot  where  the  fragments  were 
found;  the  details  of  the  discovery  might  help  us  to 
learn  if  the  stela  was  spared,  and  if  it  survived  its 
builder,  or  if  Augustus  ordered  it  to  be  destroyed  by  the 
new  prefect,  so  that  the  memory  of  the  victory  might  be 
wiped  out  in  the  very  place  where  the  conqueror  had 
desired  to  perpetuate  it. 


X 

ON  AN  EGYPTIAN  MONUMENT  CONTAINING  THE  NAME 
OF   ISRAEL1 

THE  gentle  Menephtah,  King  of  Egypt,  was  at  least 
once  in  his  life  greatly  alarmed  when  the  Libyans 
invaded  the  eastern  districts  of  the  Delta,  and  pushed 
their  vanguard  as  far  as  the  neighbourhood  of  Mem- 
phis. He  assembled  his  army,  the  native  soldiers,  the 
negro  and  Syrian  battalions,  his  Shardanes  guards;  he 
marched  to  the  encounter  of  the  enemy,  made  all  pre- 
parations for  a  decisive  battle,  but  at  the  moment  of 
entering  on  it  he  was  seized  with  a  very  natural  emotion, 
or  his  generals  were  for  him.  In  his  youth  he  had 
followed  the  army  under  the  command  of  his  father, 
the  famous  Ramses,  and  had  borne  himself  in  the 
fight  as  bravely  as  any,  but  forty  years  had  elapsed 
since  then ;  he  was  no  longer  young,  and  had  laid  aside 
arms,  and  might  well  ask  what  sort  of  a  figure  he  would 
now  make  on  the  war  chariot  in  active  fight.  But  the 
king  was  eager  to  lead  the  troops  himself,  and  all  who 
had  known  Ramses  recalled  the  story  of  his  prowess 
at  Quodshou,  when,  alone  with  his  squire  Manouna,  he 
charged  the  chariots  of  the  Khati  eight  times  in  succes- 
sion. It  was  a  young  man's  exploit  that  the  seventy- 
years-old  Menephtah  could  scarcely  repeat,  and  yet 
his  absence  at  the  moment  of  the  decisive  blow  might 
disconcert  the  soldiers  and  diminish  their  courage.  The 
gods  who  in  those  days  interfered  in  the  affairs  of  this 
world  much  more  than  is  believed,  intervened  to  bring 
him  out  of  the  awkward  position  and  to  save  his  honour 

1  W.  Flinders  Petrie  :   "  Egypt  and  Israel,"  in  the  Contemporary 
Review,  May  1896  ;  reprinted  in  Six  Temples  at  Thebes,  London,  1897. 


92       NEW   LIGHT   ON  ANCIENT   EGYPT 

and  dignity.  The  old  king  thought  he  saw  in  a  dream 
a  gigantic  figure  of  Phtah  rise  up  before  him  and  pre- 
vent him  from  advancing.  "Remain  at  Memphis,"  it 
cried,  and  held  out  to  him  the  curved  sword  of  the 
Pharaohs.  "Be  not  discouraged!"  His  Majesty  was 
naturally  surprised.  "  But  what  am  I  to  do?"  "  Send 
on  your  infantry,"  replied  the  god,  "and  let  a  large 
number  of  charioteers  go  in  advance  to  the  borders  of 
the  territory  of  Piriou."  Menephtah  did  as  Phtah  said. 
He  stayed  in  the  town,  sent  his  generals  into  danger, 
and  when  they  had  won  the  battle,  returned  triumphant 
to  Thebes. 

Priests,  nobles,  citizens,  the  poorer  folk,  everybody 
welcomed  him  with  sincere  enthusiasm,  and  the  court 
historiographers  took  a  great  deal  of  trouble  to  invent 
new  epithets  in  order  to  show  posterity  what  a  great 
warrior  he  was.  The  journal  of  the  campaign  was 
posted  up  in  many  places;  in  the  temple  of  Memphis 
out  of  gratitude  for  the  service  rendered  by  Phtah, 
in  the  temple  of  Amon  at  Karnak,  and  in  all  places 
where  narratives  of  the  sort  would  be  likely  not  to  pass 
unnoticed.  In  one  of  the  edifices  built  a  century  and  a 
half  before  by  the  celebrated  Amenothes  III,  on  the 
left  bank  of  the  Nile,  there  was  a  colossal  stela  of  grey 
granite.  Menephtah  took  possession  of  it,  turned  the 
side  which  bore  the  panegyric  of  his  predecessor  to  the 
wall,  and  engraved  on  the  unused  side  an  inscription 
lately  discovered  by  Flinders  Petrie.  It  is  a  long  hymn 
in  his  praise,  in  a  style  at  times  emphatic;  we  read 
of  the  arrival  of  the  Libyans,  their  defeat,  their  head- 
long flight,  the  impression  of  terror  produced  on  the 
tribes  of  the  desert  by  the  news  of  the  disaster.  "  Their 
bands  repeated  his  exploits  to  each  other :  '  Nothing 
similar  has  struck  us  since  the  age  of  Ra,  the  Sun!' 
And  all  the  old  men  said  to  their  sons :  '  Unfortunate 
are  the  Libyans,  their  life  is  over.  We  can  no  longer 


AN   EGYPTIAN   MONUMENT  93 

walk  across  our  fields  without  fear,  our  security  has  been 
snatched  from  us  in  a  single  day;  the  Tahonou  have 
been,  as  it  were,  devoured  by  the  flames  in  a  single  year, 
Soutkhou,  our  god,  has  deserted  our  general,  and  his 
encampments  have  been  taken  by  assault.     There  is  no 
one  to  carry  the  bales  in  these  days;  to  hide  is  all  that 
is  left  us,  and  we  shall  only  find  safety  within  walls.' 
Egypt,   on   the  contrary,   was  full  of   gaiety,   and   its 
inhabitants  cried  out  to  one  another :    '  Now  we  can 
move  and  march  at  ease  along  the  roads,  for  there  is 
no  more  any  fear  in  men's  hearts.'     The  fortified  posts 
are  abandoned,  the  citadels  are  opened,  the  police  patrols 
sleep  instead  of  going  their  rounds,  the  loopholes  of 
the  walls  are  empty  in  the  sunshine  until  their  guards 
awake.      The   soldiers   are   sleeping,    the   sentries   and 
ghafirs  are  sowing  in  the  meadows,   the  cattle  return 
to  the  pastures,  there  are  no  fugitives  on  the  high  waters 
of  the  river,  and  people  are  no  longer  heard  screaming 
in  the  night:   'Stop!'  or  'Come,  come!'     Every  one 
goes  singing,  and  there  is  neither  lamentation  nor  sigh- 
ing; the  cities  are  as  if  freshly  restored,  and  he  who 
reaps  will  eat  of  his  own  harvest."     And  abroad,  Egypt, 
believed  by  her  Asiatic  rivals  to  be  ruined,   regained 
her  prestige  at  one  stroke.     "  The  great  and  the  noble 
are  brought  low;  none  among  them  lifts  his  head  any 
longer  among  the  nomads,  for,  now  that  the  Libyans 
are  destroyed,  the  Khati  are  peaceful,  the  land  of  Canaan 
is  reduced  to  subjection,  the  people  of  Ascalon  and  of 
Gezer  are  led  into  captivity,  the  city  of  lanouamim  is 
laid  low,   those  of  Israilou  are  destroyed,   there  is  no 
particle  of  them  left.     Kharou,  Southern  Syria,  is  [sad] 
as  the  widows  of  Egypt,  and  all  the  lands  are  united 
in  peace,"  under  the  hand  of  Pharaoh. 

In  hieroglyphic  characters  Israilou  is  the  exact 
equivalent  of  the  biblical  Israel,  and  it  is  the  first  time 
that  the  name  appears  on  the  Egyptian  monuments. 


94       NEW   LIGHT   ON   ANCIENT   EGYPT 

For  the  past  sixty  years  many  attempts  have  been  made 
to  find  it,  or  for  lack  of  it,  one  of  the  terms  formerly 
employed  to  indicate  all  or  part  of  the  Hebrews.  The 
most  important  was  that  of  Chabas,  who,  about  1864, 
seeing  certain  people  called  the  Apouriou  mentioned 
several  times  over  in  the  documents  of  the  time  of 
the  Ramses,  recognized  in  them  the  Hebrews;  these 
Apouriou  made  bricks,  and  as  they  were  slaves,  helpers, 
or  workmen  of  the  Egyptians,  it  was  simple  enough  to 
recall  the  early  chapters  of  the  Book  of  Exodus,  where 
the  misery  of  the  descendants  of  Jacob  is  described  in 
forcible  terms.  The  identification,  which  was  very 
favourably  welcomed  at  first,  is  now  rejected  by  most 
of  those  who  have  knowledge  in  such  matters.  Later 
it  was  noticed  in  different  quarters  that  many  of  the 
names  enumerated  in  the  lists  of  Thoutm6sis  III,  Josh1- 
oupilou,  Jakob-ilou,  contained  the  element  Joseph  or 
Jacob,  joined  to  one  of  the  words  which  express  the  con- 
cept of  the  divinity  among  Semitic  peoples,  and  it  is 
concluded  that  they  preserved  the  memory  of  at  least  two 
of  the  clans  which  later  constituted  the  Hebrew  people, 
those  of  Joseph-el  and  of  Jacob-el.1  It  is  clear  then  how 
very  little  information  about  the  most  ancient  history 
of  the  Jewish  race  is  to  be  gathered  from  the  inscrip- 
tions. It  is  not  that  the  names  of  cities  or  nations 
mentioned  in  the  Bible  are  lacking  in  the  annals  of  a 
Thoutmosis  or  a  Ramses,  but  they  always  apply  to 
towns  which  were  in  existence  before  the  occupation  of 
the  Land  of  Promise,  or  to  tribes  which  suffered  from 
that  occupation  and  tried  to  prevent  it.  Gaza  figures  in 
the  catalogue  of  them,  as  well  as  Ascalon,  Joppa,  Gezer, 
Mageddo,  Taanak,  Damas,  the  Amorrheans,  the  Hit- 
tites;  Jerusalem  herself  reappeared  under  the  original 
form  of  Ourousalimou,  and  it  is  possible  to  reconstruct 
something  of  her  history  in  the  fourteenth  century  B.C. 
1  Cf.  Groff:  CEuvres  diverses,  Vol.  i,  pp.  1-23. 


AN   EGYPTIAN   MONUMENT  95 

It  has  all  served  and  still  serves  to  re-establish  piece  by 
piece  the  stage  on  which  Israel  afterwards  played  the 
chief  part ;  Israel  itself,  and  even  its  name,  is  obstinately 
hidden.  There  is  nothing  strange  in  that.  By  the 
side  of  Egypt,  Chaldaea,  and  Syria,  Israel  was  a  very 
insignificant  personage,  even  when  ruled  by  the  most 
energetic  of  his  kings;  all  the  more  then  when  he  was 
still  only  a  serf  lodged  in  a  corner  of  the  Delta,  and 
then  a  wanderer  in  the  Arabian  Desert.  He  was  lost 
in  the  crowd  of  supernumeraries,  and  if  circumstances 
drew  the  attention  of  his  companions  or  rulers  to  him, 
it  was  only  for  a  moment,  between  two  events  which 
then  seemed  of  more  vital  interest.  The  inscriptions  or 
the  annals  have  only  fugitive  records  of  him,  but  the 
terrible  ravages  undergone  by  the  temples  of  Egypt 
make  it  scarcely  surprising  if  we  do  not  find  much  about 
him  in  the  fragments  of  inscriptions  that  have  escaped 
destruction.  The  most  extraordinary  thing  is  not  that 
we  should  find  nothing  about  the  Hebrews,  but  rather 
that  we  should  find  anything. 

The  mention  of  Israilou  in  Menephtah's  inscription  is 
then  a  piece  of  good  luck;  but  what  historical  benefit 
is  to  be  derived  from  it?  Appearing  as  it  does  in  a 
flood  of  pure  rhetoric,  it  teaches  us  two  certain  facts, 
the  existence  of  a  tribe  of  Israel,  and  a  defeat  recently 
sustained  by  that  tribe.  The  scribe  who  composed 
Menephtah's  hymn,  employs  in  describing  the  check 
expressions  which  might  lead  us  to  see  in  it  a  disaster, 
but  it  is  only  one  of  the  exaggerations  common  to  his 
kind.  The  inscriptions  are  filled  with  nations  that  each 
Pharaoh  in  his  turn  annihilated  without  their  suffering 
much  harm,  and  for  a  tribe  to  have  lost  a  few  men  in  a 
skirmish  was  sufficient  for  a  court  poet  to  pay  the 
sovereign  the  compliment  of  having  destroyed  it. 
Where  did  these  Israilou  live  ?  What  misdeeds  of  theirs 
had  drawn  on  them  the  chariots  and  bowmen  of  Egypt  ? 


g6       NEW   LIGHT   ON   ANCIENT  EGYPT 

The  order  in  which  the  other  peoples  are  mentioned 
indicates  that  they  inhabited  Southern  Syria;  they  come 
after  Askalani,  the  Ascalonians,  after  the  Gezer  that 
still  exists  near  Ascalon  at  Tell-Djezer,  after  lanouamim 
that  other  documents  seem  to  locate  in  the  mountains 
of  Judah,  and  it  only  remains  for  us  to  imagine  that 
they  are  the  whole  or  a  part  of  the  children  of  Israel 
who  took  refuge  near  Kadesh-Barnea,  after  the  exodus 
from  Egypt.  It  would  then  be  but  a  short  step  to 
declare  that  the  disaster  of  which  they  are  said  to  be  the 
victims  is  the  persecution  of  the  "  Pharaoh  who  knew 
not  Joseph."  In  those  five  words  we  should  have  an 
allusion  to  the  Egyptian  version  of  the  Exodus  current 
at  the  court  of  Menephtah.  In  fact  an  old  tradition 
identifies  Menephtah  with  the  prince  who  was  hostile 
to  the  Jews  and  quarrelled  with  Moses.  Other  hypo- 
theses are  possible,  and  have  been  examined  by  students 
with  the  text  of  the  inscription  before  them.  Flinders 
Petrie,  for  instance,  declares  that  Israel  was  at  that 
time  divided  into  twro  principal  groups,  one  of  which 
had  come  down  to  the  banks  of  the  Nile  and  was  living 
there  at  the  time  of  the  Libyan  war,  while  the  other  had 
stayed  in  Palestine  and  continued  to  lead  a  nomadic 
life  between  Hebron  and  the  plains  of  Jezreel.  The 
Israel  forgotten  in  the  land  would  be  the  Israel  whom 
Menephtah  punished  so  severely,  and  of  whose  existence 
he  tells  us.  Personally  I  have  no  reason  to  adopt  one 
version  rather  than  the  other;  I  merely  record  the  fact 
that  Israel  is  revealed  to  us  for  the  first  time  on  a  con- 
temporary, or  very  nearly  contemporary,  document  con- 
cerning deeds  related  by  Israelite  chroniclers  in  the 
Book  of  Exodus,  and  express  regret  that  the  mention 
of  it  by  the  Egyptian  writers  should  be  so  brief. 

I  fear  that  others  will  not  be  contented  with  so  slight 
a  result,  and  that  the  five  words  of  the  Egyptian  pane- 
gyric will  become  the  subject  of  a  whole  literature. 


XI 

COPTOS 

THERE  was  not  much  to  be  seen  of  Coptos  when  I 
visited  it  for  the  first  time  fifteen  years  ago.  It  con- 
sisted of  two  or  three  villages  of  low  huts,  a  few  irregular 
mounds  of  earth  on  which  were  copings  of  walls  either 
of  brick  or  of  small  stones;  in  the  centre  was  a  vast, 
almost  empty,  site  where  a  temple  had  once  stood; 
on  the  west  were  the  remains  of  a  granite  door  in  fine 
Pharaonic  work,  a  bridge  thrown  over  a  canal,  and  inter- 
secting dikes,  while  on  the  east  and  north  was  an 
immense  Roman  rampart,  flanked  by  towers*partly  built 
in  the  walls,  and  near  one  of  them  an  enormous  breach, 
doubtless  the  opening  through  which  Diocletian's 
legions  forced  their  way  into  the  town  sixteen  centuries 
ago.  A  few  blows  of  the  pick-axe  brought  fine  copper 
utensils  of  the  Coptic  period  to  the  surface  here  and 
there,  which  should  be  still  in  the  museum.  About 
1884  I  cleared  out,  in  five  or  six  days,  a  temple  corridor 
where  the  hieroglyphic  inscriptions  of  Caligula  were 
put  over  Greek  sgraffite  drawn  by  pilgrims  in  the  time 
of  one  of  the  later  Ptolemies.  Whenever  I  spent  a  few 
hours  there,  I  picked  up  important  inscriptions,  statues, 
stelae,  bronzes,  stuffs,  hundreds  of  small  objects.  I 
should  have  organized  extensive  works  there  had  I 
possessed  a  little  more  money  than  the  ^noo  or  ^1200 
of  which  the  budget  for  excavations  then  consisted. 
Flinders  Petrie  has  realized  what  was  only  an  empty 
dream  for  me.  In  the  course  of  six  weeks  he  found 
7  97 


98       NEW   LIGHT   ON   ANCIENT   EGYPT 

enough  material  there  to  enable  him  to  write  the  history 
of  the  ancient  town  and  of  one  of  its  chief  temples.1 

Coptos  is  situated  at  a  little  distance  from  the  Nile, 
at  the  starting-point  of  the  two  chief  roads  that  lead 
through  the  desert  to  the  shores  of  the  Red  Sea,  to 
Qoceir,  and  to  Ras-Banas  respectively.  A  part  of  the 
trade  between  Egypt  and  Southern  Arabia  or  Somali- 
land  traversed  those  routes  from  the  very  earliest  times. 
The  sailors  unloaded  the  wares  they  brought  from 
Pouanit  or  the  Divine  Lands  in  one  of  the  havens 
situated  near  Qoceir  itself.  The  goods  consisted  for  the 
most  part  of  resins  and  gums  or  odorous  barks,  which 
the  ancients  mingled  together  for  their  sacrifices,  incense, 
myrrh,  cinnamon,  as  well  as  gold,  ivory,  ebony,  rare 
woods,  rare  animals  like  the  monkey  or  the  giraffe.  The 
produce  was  entrusted  to  caravans,  which  reached 
Coptos  in  four  or  five  days,  and  thence  made  use  of 
the  Nile  to  penetrate  the  whole  of  the  valley  from 
Syene  to  Memphis.  Coptos  was  a  depot  where  native 
and  exotic  merchandise  was  accumulated  and  bartered; 
its  prosperity  increased  or  diminished  with  the  fluctua- 
tions of  the  Red  Sea  trade,  and  attained  its  zenith 
when  the  power  of  Egypt  was  entirely  in  the  hands  of 
one  energetic  family,  and  could  guarantee  the  safety  of 
the  desert  routes  against  the  Bedouins,  or  exercise  a 
strict  surveillance  over  the  coast  of  the  Erythrsea.  The 
ruins,  tried  as  they  have  been  by  invasions,  still  preserve 
enough  documents  to  teach  us  that  the  Vlth  Dynasty, 
about  3600  B.C.,  the  Xlth  and  Xllth,  about  3200  B.C., 
the  XVIIIth  and  XlXth,  from  1700  B.C.  to  1300  B.C., 
the  Ptolemies  and  the  Antonines  effectively  protected 
and  enriched  the  town.  Its  best  time  was  from  the  third 
century  B.C.  to  the  third  century  A.D.,  first  under  the 
Macedonians  and  then  under  the  Romans,  when  a  con- 
siderable portion  of  the  maritime  trade  with  India  and 
1  Flinders  Petrie :  Koptos,  London,  1896. 


COPTOS  99 

China  passed  through  it  before  proceeding  to  Alex- 
andria. The  turbulent  character  of  its  inhabitants  and 
their  revolts  repeatedly  drew  on  it  the  anger  of  its 
masters.  Diocletian  destroyed  it,  Kous,  then  Keneh, 
took  its  place.  The  town  declined,  was  deserted, 
decayed,  and  became  a  heap  of  rubbish  exploited  by 
fellaheen  and  archaeologists. 

A  little  of  everything  can  be  gleaned  on  so  ancient  a 
site,  occupied  by  so  many  different  generations.  Flin- 
ders Petrie  preferred  to  devote  his  attention  to  the  great 
temple,  and  has  extracted  from  it  fragments  of  every 
epoch.  The  larger  number  belong  to  the  Xlth  and 
Xllth  Dynasties,  and  come  from  halls  rebuilt  by  one  of 
the  Antoufs,  Antouf  V,  and  by  Amenemhait  I.  They 
are  of  a  marvellous  delicacy,  and  will  rank  among  the 
most  remarkable  works  of  Egyptian  sculpture  during  the 
first  Theban  Empire.  The  relief  is  very  low,  scarcely 
perceivable  above  the  general  level  of  the  wall,  and  yet 
the  few  delicate  touches  which  heighten  the  contour  of  the 
figures  are  wonderfully  precise  and  accurate,  and  most 
skilfully  applied  in  the  right  places.  Indeed,  the  model- 
ling of  the  head  and  body  stand  out  as  perfectly  as  if 
sculptured  in  high  relief.  The  sculptures  of  the  tomb 
give  an  idea  of  the  elegance  and  the  skilful  technique  of 
the  art  of  the  Xllth  Dynasty,  but  the  fragments  of  the 
great  official  buildings  we  had  so  far  discovered  were  too 
much  mutilated  to  enable  us  to  discern  the  point  of  per- 
fection attained  in  the  studios  where  work  was  done  for 
the  kings.  The  pieces  now  discovered  by  Flinders 
Petrie,  of  which  he  publishes  photographs,  permit  us 
to  judge  of  that  perfection  with  certainty,  and  partly  to 
fill  in  one  of  the  most  serious  lacunas  in  our  manuals  of 
Egyptian  archaeology.  The  pictures  of  Deir  El-Bahari, 
Louxor,  and  Abydos  are  the  only  ones  that  can  be  com- 
pared with  those  of  Coptos ;  perhaps,  indeed,  the  former 
lack  something  of  the  inspiration  of  the  latter.  The 


ioo     NEW   LIGHT   ON   ANCIENT   EGYPT 

blocks  in  the  name  of  Thoutmosis  III  and  later 
sovereigns  that  Flinders  Petrie  describes  after  the  others 
are  far  from  possessing  an  equal  interest  for  the  history 
of  art.  They  authorize  us  to  declare  that  Coptos  always 
possessed  notable  schools,  and  that  the  sculptor's  art 
never  descended  as  low  there  as  in  many  Egyptian 
towns;  they  are  particularly  valuable  for  their  historical 
information  despite  the  injury  they  have  received  at  the 
hands  of  time. 

The  most  curious  is  an  actual  decree  of  excommunica- 
tion promulgated  in  the  year  III  of  King  Antouf  V 
by  the  chapter  of  the  god  Minou,  the  patron  of  the 
town.  The  document  does  not  tell  us  what  Teti,  son 
of  Minhotpou,  had  done  to  deserve  his  condemnation, 
and  it  is  probable  that  we  shall  never  know  for  certain. 
Some  of  the  expressions  lead  me  to  judge  that  probably 
politics  had  much  to  do  in  the  matter,  and  that  Teti 
was  implicated  in  some  plot  against  the  sovereign. 
Here  is  the  composition,  which  does  not  lack  origin- 
ality :  "The  year  III,  the  25th  Phamenoth,  under  his 
Majesty  Antouf,  who,  like  unto  the  Sun,  gives  life 
everlastingly.  Decree  of  the  king  to  Minouhait, 
governor  of  Coptos,  to  Kaininou,  the  royal  prince  who 
is  in  command  at  Coptos,  to  the  vassal  Monkhouminou, 
to  the  hierogrammatist  Nofirhotpou,  to  all  the  soldiers 
of  Coptos,  and  to  the  whole  community  of  the  temple. 
To  all  of  you  this  decree  is  sent  that  you  may  know 
the  following :  My  Majesty  has  sent  the  hierogram- 
matist, vassal  of  Amon,  Siamonou,  and  the  head  of 
the  ushers,  Ousiramonou,  to  make  an  inquiry  at  the 
temple  of  Minou,  regarding  the  deputation  that  the  com- 
munity of  the  temple  of  my  father,  Minou,  sent  to  my 
Majesty  to  say :  '  A  wicked  plot  has  been  made  in  this 
temple,  and  an  enemy  introduced  into  it  (may  his  name 
pass  away  !),  Teti,  son  of  Minhotpou  !'  Let  him  be  cast 
out  of  the  temple  of  my  father  Minou;  let  him  be  dis- 
missed from  his  employment  in  the  temple,  he  and  his, 


COPTOS  101 

from  son  to  son,  from  posterity  to  posterity,  and  let  them 
be  wanderers  on  the  face  of  the  earth ;  let  his  rations  of 
bread  be  cut  off,  let  his  portion  of  the  sacred  viands  be 
erased  from  the  registers  so  that  his  name  be  not  com- 
memorated, as  is  done  to  all  who  like  him  have  blas- 
phemed or  shown  hostility  to  his  god ;  let  all  that  relates 
to  him  on  the  writings  of  the  temple  and  in  the  registers 
of  the  royal  treasury  be  effaced;  if  any  actual  king,  or 
any  one  performing  the  functions  of  a  king,  pardon  him, 
let  that  king  no  longer  wear  the  white  crown,  let  him  no 
longer  keep  the  red  crown  of  Egypt,  let  him  sit  no 
longer  on  the  throne  of  Horus,  who  reigns  over  the  living, 
let  the  two  goddesses  of  the  south  and  the  north  no  more 
bestow  on  him  their  love;  no  matter  what  general  or 
what  governor  presents  himself  before  the  king,  and  asks 
pardon  for  this  wicked  man,  let  his  goods  and  his  lands 
be  forfeit  to  the  Treasury  of  my  father,  Minou  of  Coptos ; 
and  let  none  of  his  clients  or  dependents,  none  of  the 
clients  or  dependents  of  his  father  or  mother  be  provided 
for  from  his  office,  but  let  that  office  be  given  to  the 
vassal,  the  administrator  of  the  palace,  Minouhait,  and 
let  be  given  him  also  the  bread  of  the  other,  and  his 
portion  of  the  sacred  viands,  and  let  them  be  written  in 
his  name  in  the  registers  of  the  temple  of  Minou  of 
Coptos,  from  son  to  son,  from  posterity  to  posterity!" 
A  document  later  by  2000  years  condemned  those  who 
were  excommunicated  to  be  burnt  alive  at  Napata  in 
Ethiopia.  But  Teti's  life  was  spared.  Was  the  mercy 
intentional  or  did  he  escape  his  persecutors  ? 

Kings  little  known  until  now  appear  here  and  there,  a 
Rahotpou  who  seems  to  have  reigned  about  the  eighteenth 
century  B.C.  without  much  distinction,  and  we  must  come 
down  almost  to  the  town's  last  days  to  find  inscriptions 
equal  in  interest  to  the  decree  of  excommunication.  The 
Greeks  and  then  the  Romans  kept  a  fairly  strong  gar- 
rison there,  which  guarded  the  Nile  and  the  desert,  and 
also  a  custom-house,  where  everything  that  came  from 


102     NEW   LIGHT   ON   ANCIENT   EGYPT 

the  Red  Sea  or  went  to  it  paid  dues  for  entrance  and 
departure.  Soldiers  and  excisemen  have  left  traces  in 
the  inscriptions  dug  out  by  Flinders  Petrie.  Antistius 
Asiaticus,  Prefect  of  the  coast  at  Berenicia  on  the  Red 
Sea,  under  Domitian,  drew  up  a  tariff  about  90  A.D.  We 
learn  what  the  grantees  of  the  transport  service  between 
Coptos  and  Berenicia  had  to  disburse  :  to  bring  a  helms- 
man into  Egypt,  8  drachmas,  a  bowman,  10  drachmas, 
a  sailor,  5  drachmas,  a  slave  for  prostitution,  108  drach- 
mas, an  ass,  2  obols,  and  so  on;  to  convey  a  mummy 
from  Coptos  to  the  sea  and  vice  versd,  i  drachma  and  4 
obols.  Egyptians  who  died  away  from  their  native 
village  exacted  that  their  bodies  should  be  buried  in 
their  native  places ;  the  corpse  was  consigned  to  a  boat- 
man or  the  head  of  a  caravan,  who  delivered  it  according 
to  freight  at  the  desired  place,  and  the  number  of  these 
funerary  packages  was  sufficiently  large  for  toll  to  be 
levied  on  them.  Auxiliary  troops  levied  in  Asia  have 
left  dedications  to  their  divinities ;  thus  Marcus  Aurelius 
Beliakob,  of  the  Palmyrian  archers  to  the  most  high 
god,  Jerablous  of  Hierapolis.  A  sailor  or  a  merchant 
who  had  escaped  the  dangers  of  the  Red  Sea  dedicated  a 
votive  offering  to  the  most  high  Isis  for  the  successful 
voyage  of  the  good  ship  Sarapis.  Some  of  these  monu- 
ments, unimportant  in  themselves,  derive  interest  from 
the  name  of  the  sovereign  under  whom  they  were  erected ; 
one  of  them  constitutes  one  of  the  rare  memorials  we 
possess  of  Caius  Fulvius  Quietus,  who  was  Emperor  in 
the  East  with  his  father  Macrian  in  259,  during  the  years 
which  followed  the  defeat  of  Valerianus  and  his  capture 
by  the  Persians.  They  are  small  events  and  insignifi- 
cant facts  considered  by  themselves.  But,  pieced  to- 
gether, they  explain  and  complete  each  other,  and  end 
by  forming,  as  in  a  mosaic,  a  picture  of  the  life  of  a  pro- 
vincial city  in  Egypt  under  the  Pharaohs  or  under 
foreign  rulers. 


THE  BARBERINI  OBELISK  RAISED  BY  HADRIAN  FOR  ANTINOUS.         [K.Moscioni. 


XII 

THE  TOMB  OF  ANTINOUS  AT  ROME 

As  it  is  unwise  to  be  discouraging,  I  will  not  declare 
the  Barberini  obelisk  to  be  the  ugliest  of  Egyptian 
obelisks ;  I  will  content  myself  with  calling  it  the  poorest 
of  the  obelisks  that  have  been  erected  at  different  times 
in  the  public  places  of  Rome.  It  is  badly  cut,  badly  pro- 
portioned, heavy,  and  squat;  each  of  the  four  sides  is 
covered  with  two  columns  of  hieroglyphics  piled  one  on 
top  of  the  other  in  such  confusion  that  the  order  of  the 
words  can  scarcely  be  distinguished.  The  sculptors 
who  executed  this  masterpiece  took  a  great  amount  of 
trouble,  but  they  lacked  the  intelligence  and  skill  of  their 
colleagues  who  were  then  engaged  in  decorating  the 
sanctuaries  of  Upper  Egypt,  Thebes  and  Philae.  It 
has  none  of  the  qualities  that  give  such  a  dignified 
aspect  to  the  obelisks  of  the  great  period,  such  as  purity 
of  line,  inflexible  clearness  of  the  edges,  perfect  polish 
of  the  material,  broad  and  harmonious  spacing  of  the  in- 
scriptions, beauty  of  the  characters ;  it  is  indeed  only  an 
awkward  and  pretentious  counterfeit.  But  its  inscriptions 
have  an  interest  for  the  archaeologist  that  they  do  not 
possess  for  the  artist.  We  know  from  Champollion  that 
they  are  devoted  to  the  praise  of  Antinous,  and  that  they 
celebrate  Hadrian's  strange  favourite  as  if  he  was  a 
god.  Erman  has  just  translated  them  in  an  almost  defini- 
tive manner,  and  there  is  all  the  more  merit  in  the  task 
since  a  more  barbarous  text  has  never  presented  itself  to 
the  attention  of  an  Egyptologist.  The  language  spoken 

103 


104     NEW   LIGHT   ON  ANCIENT  EGYPT 

on  the  banks  of  the  Nile  in  the  time  of  Hadrian  was  to 
that  of  the  Theban  Pharaohs  as  Italian  or  French  is  to 
Latin.  Scholars,  priests  and  nobles  nearly  understood 
it  by  routine,  just  as  the  monks  of  the  eleventh  or 
twelfth  century  understood  the  language  of  Cicero ;  when 
they  wished  to  write  it,  they  were  compelled  to  use  the 
fragments  borrowed  from  their  reading  of  Centos,  in 
which  lexicon  and  grammar  were  equally  ill-treated. 
Erman  was  often  vastly  puzzled  by  the  curious  sen- 
tences, complicated  by  an  entirely  unprejudiced  spell- 
ing. The  surprising  thing  is  not  that  there  are  a  few 
blank  spaces  in  his  translation,1  but  that  there  are  not 
more.  He  displays  inexhaustible  ingenuity  in  finding 
a  meaning,  and  the  version  suggested  for  more  than 
one  of  the  sentences  may  appear  doubtful  to  some  of 
his  readers;  to  me  they  seem  exactly  to  fit  the  original, 
and  should  be  accepted  in  almost  every  case  as  corre- 
sponding to  the  thought  of  the  Egyptian  scribe  to  whom 
we  owe  this  piece  of  eloquence.  The  basis  of  the  ideas 
and  formulas  counts  for  much  in  the  feeling  of  improb- 
ability aroused  in  us.  The  Egyptian  protocol  applied 
to  Egyptians  of  pure  race,  or  to  the  Egyptianized  Ptole- 
mies, is  exceedingly  curious.  The  fantastic  and  almost 
comic  effects  produced  when  it  is  adapted  to  the  hand- 
some Antinous  and  his  Roman  surroundings  are 
scarcely  imaginable. 

"  How  splendid,"  exclaims  the  author  in  one  of  the 
inscriptions,  "the  fortune  that  has  come  to  the  Osirian 
Antinous !  His  heart  feels  the  greatest  joy  because  he 
knows  his  new  shapeL  and  since  he  has  begun  to  live 
again  he  sees  his  father  Horus  !"  Then  he  takes  advan- 
tage of  his  entrance  into  the  Egyptian  heaven  to  implore 
Ra's  protection  for  Hadrian  and  his  wife,  the  Sabine 

1  A.  Erman  :  Der  Obelisk  des  Antinous 7  Huelsen  :  Der  Grab  des 
Antinous,  taken  from  the  Memoirs  of  the  German  Archaeological 
Institute,  Vol.  xi,  pp.  113-130.  1896. 


TOMB    OF   ANTINOUS   AT   ROME        105 

Empress.  That  duty  accomplished,  he  takes  complete 
possession  of  all  his  divine  privileges,  and  it  is  only  just, 
for  he  had  been  mummified  with  all  conventional  rites. 
He  is  now  "a  brave  man,  without  weakness;  ...  he 
breathes  the  air  of  life,  his  glory  is  in  the  heart  of  all 
men,  and  Thot,  the  Lord  of  Hermopolis,  the  master  of 
the  Holy  Books,  will  rejuvenate  his  soul  as  the  moon 
and  the  sun  are  rejuvenated  in  their  seasons,  day  and 
night,  at  every  hour,  at  every  minute !  Love  of  him  is 
in  the  hearts  of  all  his  servants,  fear  of  him  is  in  all 
their  limbs,  all  men  praise  and  worship  him.  The 
place  of  his  feet  is  in  the  Hall  of  Truth,"  where  Osiris 
judges  the  dead;  the  souls  acclaim  him,  he  goes  where 
he  likes,  all  the  gates  of  Hades  open  before  him.  And 
while  the  immortals  eagerly  welcome  him  in  heaven, 
mortals  overwhelm  him  with  honour  on  earth.  "  Jousts 
for  the  brave  men  who  are  in  this  land  are  instituted 
in  the  town,  the  name  of  which  is  derived  from  his, 
for  the  boatmen,  and  for  the  wrestlers  of  the  whole 
earth,  even  for  all  the  people  who  know  the  dwelling 
of  Thot;  crowns  are  placed  on  their  heads  by  way 
of  prizes,  as  well  as  rewards  of  all  sorts  of  good  things. 
Offerings  are  made  on  his  altars,  the  liturgies  of  the 
gods  are  placed  before  him  every  day  .  .  .  people  come 
to  him  from  every  town,  because  he  listens  to  the 
prayers  of  those  who  invoke  him.  He  heals  the  sick," 
by  bestowing  on  them  those  prophetic  dreams,  in 
which  the  gods  reveal  to  their  petitioners  the  remedies 
best  suited  to  cure  them.  As  such  power  could  not 
belong  to  a  child  of  the  human  race,  the  panegyrist 
does  not  doubt  that  his  hero  is  of  divine  extraction, 
his  mother  received  him  of  a  god  descended  incognito 
on  to  the  earth.  It  was  a  common  custom  with  the 
Egyptian  gods  when  they  wished  to  enthrone  a  family 
of  new  Pharaohs.1  They  used  it  in  the  case  of  Anti- 
1  Cf.  Chapter  VIII. 


106     NEW   LIGHT   ON   ANCIENT   EGYPT 

nous,  not  to  found  a  dynasty,  a  thing  Rome  would  not 
have  tolerated,  but  to  bestow  on  the  world  another  god, 
a  thing  to  which  Rome  was  not  usually  averse. 

That  is  what  the  inscriptions  on  three  sides  of  the 
obelisk  have  to  tell  us.  Many  readers  will  consider  it 
very  little;  they  would  prefer  a  narrative,  even  though 
it  were  official,  of  the  death  of  Antinous,  and  to  know 
which  of  the  current  versions  of  the  matter  pleased  the 
Emperor.  Did  Antinous  sacrifice  himself  to  save 
Hadrian  from  the  dangers  of  which  he  was  foretold,  or 
was  he  accidentally  drowned?  The  Egyptian  author  is 
silent  on  the  subject,  and  probably  it  did  not  greatly 
interest  him ;  he  had  been  commissioned  to  write  a 
panegyric  according  to  the  strictest  rules  of  Egyptian 
rhetoric,  and  he  honestly  accomplished  the  task,  with  as 
many  fine  phrases  and  as  few  facts  or  ideas  as  possible. 
But  the  legend  on  the  fourth  side  reveals  to  us  a  circum- 
stance that  was  unknown  to  ancient  historians,  and  to 
which  modern  historians  have  not  paid  sufficient  atten- 
tion. Antinous  perished  near  Hermopolis,  and  his 
deification,  the  games  celebrated  in  his  honour,  the  insti- 
tution of  his  worship,  all  the  events  so  far  known,  took 
place  near  Hermopolis,  in  the  town  of  Antinoe.  This 
time,  however,  the  narrative  takes  us  to  Rome.  "  The 
Antinous  who  is  here,  and  who  reposes  in  this  locality, 
who  is  in  the  field  situated  near  the  powerful  lady,  Rome, 
is  recognized  as  a  god  in  the  divine  localities  of  Egypt. 
A  temple  has  been  built  for  him,  he  is  worshipped  there 
as  a  god  by  the  prophets  and  by  the  priests  of  the  South 
and  of  the  North,  as  well  as  by  the  people  of  Egypt;  a 
town  is  named  after  him,  and  the  soldiers,  as  well  as 
all  the  Greeks  who  are  in  the  Egyptian  localities,  come 
to  this  town,  all,  as  many  as  they  are,  and  fields  and 
lands  are  given  them  to  make  their  lives  most  happy. 
There  is  in  that  place  a  temple  of  the  god  called  Osiris- 
Antinous,  built  of  fine  white  limestone,  surrounded  by 


TOMB    OF   ANTINOUS   AT   ROME        107 

sphinxes,  statues,  many  columns  as  the  kings,  our 
ancestors,  built  them,  and  as  the  Greeks  did  after  them ; 
all  the  gods  and  all  the  goddesses  give  breath  to 
Antinous  that  he  may  acquire  a  new  youth." 

Erman  understands,  as  did  Birch  before  him,1  that 
Antinous  was  buried  at  Rome,  in  the  field  near  the  town, 
and  I  do  not  see  that  any  other  translation  could  be 
made.  It  must  be  conceded  that  Antinous,  mummified 
at  Hermopolis  directly  after  his  death,  was  not  buried  in 
his  city  of  Antinoe.  Hadrian  took  him  with  him,  or 
sent  him  direct  to  Rome,  and  built  him  a  tomb  outside 
the  Pomcerium,  as  the  Egyptian  inscription  expressly 
states.  Birch  thinks  that  the  phrase,  the  field  situated 
near  the  powerful  lady,  Rome,  means  the  Campus 
Martius;  according  to  Parker,  the  obelisk  placed  in 
front  of  the  tomb  would  have  been  removed  to  the 
amphitheatre  of  Varius  Marcellus,  perhaps  by  Helio- 
gabalus,  about  220.  On  the  other  hand,  Huelsen,  who 
adds  to  Erman's  memoir  very  interesting  notes  on  the 
discovery  of  the  obelisk  in  the  sixteenth  century,  and  on 
its  fate  from  the  time  it  fell  into  the  hands  of  the  Bar- 
berini  until  it  was  set  up  in  the  Pincio  Piazza  by  Pope 
Pius  VII  in  1822,  thinks  that  the  spot  where  it  was  dis- 
covered in  the  Vigna  Saccocci,  marks  within  a  little  the 
site  on  which  Hadrian  originally  erected  it.  It  is  to  be 
hoped  that  well-directed  excavations  may  bring  to  light 
the  monument  that  it  accompanied,  alone,  or  joined  to 
a  similar  one,  according  to  the  Egyptian  custom.  If, 
indeed,  the  tomb  referred  to  in  the  inscription  was  not 
a  cenotaph  consecrated  to  the  worship  of  his  favourite 
by  the  Emperor,  there  might  be  a  chance  of  finding  in 
it  the  coffin  or  the  sarcophagus.  The  climate  of  Rome, 
unlike  that  of  Egypt,  does  not  lend  itself  to  the  preserva- 
tion of  bodies,  but  chance  sometimes  does  strange 
things,  and  the  methods  of  mummification,  degenerate 
1  Cf.  Parker  :  Obelisks  of  Rome. 


io8     NEW   LIGHT   ON  ANCIENT  EGYPT 

as  they  were  in  Roman  times,  would  still  offer  a  strong 
resistance  to  decomposition.  The  corpses  were  impreg- 
nated with  a  boiling  bitumen,  which  transformed  them 
into  a  blackish  mass,  hideous  to  see,  fcetid  to  smell,  easy 
to  break  or  to  burn,  but  less  accessible  to  damp  than  the 
better  prepared  mummies  of  the  great  Pharaonic  ages. 
If  the  funerary  chamber  escaped  the  depredations  of 
thieves  and  barbarians,  there  is  some  chance  left  of 
extracting  from  it  still  intact  the  block  of  charcoal,  of 
vaguely  human  form,  that  was  once  the  handsome 
Antinous. 


XIII 

A  PHILOSOPHICAL  DIALOGUE  BETWEEN  AN  EGYPTIAN 
AND   HIS   SOUL 

AN  Egyptian  was  talking  with  one  of  his  souls.  They 
had  several  in  those  times;  the  bai,  a  bird  which  after 
the  death  flew  to  the  heavenly  sphere,  but  returned  at 
will;  the  double,  a  coloured,  mobile,  live  image  which 
dwelt  in  the  tomb  as  in  its  lawful  domicile,  and  escaped 
from  it  during  the  day,  if  it  liked,  in  order  to  see 
again  the  regions  that  testified  to  its  existence;  the 
dark  shade,  the  khaibit;  the  luminous  one,  the  khou, 
which  hid  itself  in  the  darkest  corners  of  the  vault,  and 
only  left  them  at  rare  intervals  in  order  to  punish  the 
living  for  their  neglect  of  it.  The  beginning  of  the 
manuscript  in  which  this  conversation  is  preserved  is 
lost,  and  so  we  do  not  know  how  it  came  about.  At 
the  point  where  we  take  it  up,  the  interview  had  already 
lasted  some  time,  and  the  talk  is  going  its  way.  Death 
is  undoubtedly  the  subject,  but  the  thesis  defended  by 
each  of  the  interlocutors  is  not  very  clear.  I  thought 
that  the  man,  terrified  by  the  uncertainties  of  the  future 
life,  was  explaining  his  anguish  to  the  soul;  the  soul 
attempted  to  reassure  him,  and  drew  an  almost  attractive 
picture  of  the  passage  between  the  present  and  the  future 
life.  Erman,  who  has  just  translated  the  dialogue,1 
thinks,  on  the  contrary,  that  the  man  was  summoning 

1  A.  Erman  :  Gesprach  eines  Lebensmuden  mit  seiner  Seele,  aus  dem 
Papyrus  3024  der  Koeniglichen  Museen,  extracted  from  the  Memoirs 
of  the  Berlin  Academy  of  Sciences.  1896. 

109 


death,  and  that  the  soul  was  trying  to  dissuade  him 
from  suicide.  The  text  lends  itself  to  both  interpreta- 
tions, and  only  the  discovery  of  the  first  part  would 
authorize  us  to  declare  which  is  true.  One  point,  how- 
ever, is  certain  in  either  view,  the  author's  gloomy 
conception  of  humanity,  a  conception  he  largely 
develops  in  the  last  couplets  of  his  work.  For  one  who 
has  seen  the  perversity  of  the  age,  and  the  lamentable 
passage  of  the  world,  Hades  has  no  terrors,  and  in  his 
eyes  death  is  only  a  return  from  exile,  or  the  cure  of  a 
painful  malady. 

The  soul  having  evidently  concluded  a  very  eloquent 
tirade,  of  which  only  two  or  three  words  remain,  the 
man  "  opens  his  mouth  and  replies  to  the  soul  '  Concern- 
ing what  he  had  said.'  '  He  complains  that  it  had  not 
spoken  wisely  enough  to  him  in  the  trials  he  had  gone 
through,  but  "  had  fled  away  during  the  days  of  mis- 
fortune.— And  then,  my  soul  attacks  me  because  I  did 
not  listen  when  it  led  me  to  death,  because  I  did  not 
go  towards  it  when  it  threw  me  into  the  flames  to  con- 
sume me!"  And  yet  it  ought  "to  have  been  close  to 
me  in  the  days  of  misfortune,  to  have  kept  by  my  side 
as  one  who  weeps  for  me,  as  one  who  leaves  the  crowd 
and  walks  near  me.  O  my  soul,  cease  to  reproach  me 
that  I  mourn  for  life,  cease  to  thrust  me  towards  death 
because  I  do  not  go  to  it  with  entire  pleasure,  cease, 
also,  to  draw  a  pleasant  picture  of  Hades !  Is  it  not 
a  misfortune  that  life  can  only  be  lived  once?  Is 
not  Hades  filled  with  gods  who  ask  of  the  manes  a 
strict  account  of  their  sins?"  Here  the  soul,  impatient 
of  such  weakness,  interrupts  brusquely  :  "  Art  thou  not 
a  poor  devil  ?  And  yet  thou  cursest  the  other  world, 
and  groanest  over  thy  fate  as  if  thou  wert  a  rich 
man!"  But  the  man  is  not  disconcerted  by  this 
attack:  "It's  no  use  your  getting  angry,"  he  replies, 
"  I  shall  not  go,"  and  he  insists  more  emphatically  than 


A   PHILOSOPHICAL   DIALOGUE         in 

before  on  the  terror  death  inspires  in  him,  and  the 
vicissitudes  of  burial.  The  soul  draws  a  fresh  argu- 
ment from  the  words  it  has  just  heard  :  "  If  thou  inces- 
santly thinkest  on  the  tomb,  it  is  a  trouble  of  the  heart, 
a  cause  for  weeping  which  crushes  the  individual  and 
tears  him  from  his  home;  for  once  cast  on  the  hill," 
where  the  tombs  are,  "  thou  wilt  come  out  no  more  to  see 
the  Sun  ";  all  the  dead  are  vowed  fatally  to  oblivion, 
and  "  those  for  whom  granite  statues  have  been  carved, 
for  whom  the  double  dwelling  has  been  cut  in  form  of 
a  pyramid,  a  work  of  excellence  and  perfection,  the 
divine  statues  modelled  for  them,  and  the  tables  of 
votive  offerings  attached  to  them,  all  these  are  in  the 
end  left  as  lonely  as  if  they  had  been  humble  persons 
who  had  died  of  hunger  by  the  roadside,  or  a  small 
farmer  brought  to  ruin  by  inundation  or  drought,  poor 
devils  who  had  none  to  talk  to  but  the  fish  by  the  water's 
side  !"  There,  indeed,  was  the  height  of  distress  for  the 
Egyptian,  who  was  naturally  talkative,  and  an  old 
shepherd's  song  said  of  the  brickmaker  who  works  with 
his  feet  in  the  mud  after  the  water  subsides  :  "  The 
brickmaker  is  in  the  water  among  the  fishes — he  talks 
to  the  cat-fish,  he  greets  the  oxyrhynchos,  Hades,  your 
brickmaker  is  a  brickmaker  of  Hades !"  he  dies  because 
he  has  no  one  to  talk  to.  But  the  soul  is  careful  not 
to  leave  its  man  with  so  fatal  a  picture.  It  counsels 
him  to  put  away  sad  thoughts  and  to  give  himself  up  to 
present  joy.  "  Hearken  to  me,  for  it  is  good  for  men 
to  hearken — follow  the  happy  day,  put  aside  lamenta- 
tation."  And  it  supports  the  advice  by  examples  drawn 
from  daily  life.  "  When  the  vassal  has  laboured  at  his 
field,  and  loaded  his  harvest  on  a  boat,  he  entrusts 
himself  to  the  water,  and  his  time  of  rejoicing  draws 
nigh,"  the  pleasure  of  storing  it  in  the  granary.  But 
suddenly  he  sees  a  storm  gathering;  he  keeps  watch 
in  his  boat  from  sunset  to  sunrise,  while  his  wife  and 


ii2     NEW   LIGHT   ON   ANCIENT   EGYPT 

children,  "  who  came  to  meet  him,  perish  in  the  canal, 
terrified  in  the  darkness,  among  the  crocodiles."  Then 
he  crouches  down,  and  raises  his  voice,  saying:  "I 
do  not  weep  for  this  dear  soul  who  will  not  come  out 
from  Hades  to  return  to  the  earth;  I  weep  for  the 
children  cut  off  in  the  spring-time  of  their  life,  who, 
because  they  saw  the  face  of  the  crocodile,  are  no  longer 
living."  Those  who  should  complain  are  not  those  who 
have  accomplished  their  term  of  life,  but  those  from 
whom  life  has  been  prematurely  snatched. 

That  speech  convinces  the  man.  He  contradicts  him- 
self, and  admits  that  he  has  no  great  happiness  to  expect 
in  this  world;  the  tomb  is  a  sure  shelter,  where  he  will 
enjoy  absolute  repose.  What  follows  is  evidently  the 
principal  part  of  the  work,  that  over  which  the  poet 
took  the  most  care,  and  that  which  his  readers  will 
most  admire.  The  piece  is  divided  into  three  couplets, 
constructed  on  the  same  model;  strophes  of  three  lines, 
the  first  of  which  is  repeated  each  time;  the  two  others 
offer  a  new  image,  by  means  of  which  the  theme 
put  forward  in  each  couplet  is  developed.  The  man 
declares  the  misery  and  contempt  into  which  he  fell 
after  the  events  recorded  doubtless  at  the  beginning  of 
the  history,  but  of  which  so  far  we  are  ignorant.  "  See, 
my  name  is  more  abused  than  the  odour  of  ravens  on 
summer  days  when  the  sun  blazes ! — See,  my  name  is 
more  abused  than  the  peach  when  the  sun  blazes. — See, 
my  name  is  more  abused  than  the  odour  of  birds,  more 
than  the  high  meadows  in  which  flocks  of  geese  feed." 
And  in  similar  fashion  he  passes  in  review  a  series  of 
animals  or  of  occupations  which  spread  a  foetid  odour, 
before  risking  similes  drawn  from  a  higher  order  of 
ideas.  "  See,  my  name  is  more  abused  than  the  wife 
who  has  been  slandered  to  her  husband ! — See,  my 
name  is  more  abused  than  the  brave  child  about  whom 
lies  are  told  to  his  parents ! — See,  my  name  is  more 


A    PHILOSOPHICAL   DIALOGUE         113 

abused  than  a  town  which  is  continually  plotting  rebel- 
lion, but  which  is  never  found  out!"     He  struggles  in 
vain  against  this  evil  reputation.     How  is  he  to  justify 
himself,  since  all  the  men  of  the  age  are  egoists  and 
cowards?     "To    whom    shall    I    speak    to-day?     The 
brothers  are  bad,  and  the  friends  of  to-day  love  no  one. 
— To  whom  shall  I  speak  to-day  ?     Hearts  are  cruel, 
and  each  man  takes  his  neighbour's  goods. — To  whom 
shall  I  speak  to-day  ?     The  weak  perish  and  victory  is 
to  the  strong. — To  whom  shall   I  speak  to-day?     No 
one  remembers  yesterday,  and  no  one  dares  act  at  the 
crucial    moment. — To    whom    shall    I    speak    to-day  ? 
There  are  no  more  just  men,  and  the  earth  is  a  heap 
of  evil-doers !"     The  litany  is  too  long  to  be  quoted 
in  full;  in  short:  "the  wicked  strike  the  world  unceas- 
ingly !"    Death  alone  offers  a  refuge  to  him  who  desires 
to  escape  the  evils  of  this  world,  and  becomes  indeed 
almost  pleasant  by  contrast.     "  Death  seems  to  me  to- 
day like  the  remedy  for  a  disease,  like  going  out  into  the 
open  air  after  a  fever ! — Death  seems  to  me  to-day  like 
an  odour  of  incense,  like  repose  under  a  sail  on  a  windy 
day ! — Death  seems  to  me  to-day  like  the  odour  of  the 
lotus,  like  repose  on  the  shores  of  a  land  of  plenty  I—- 
Death seems  to  me  to-day  like  the  path  of  a  torrent,  like 
the  return  home  of  a  soldier-sailor  ! — Death  seems  to  me 
to-day  like  the  clear  sky  after  a  storm,  like  a  man  who 
goes  hunting  in  an  unknown  land  ! — Death  seems  to 
me  to-day  like  the  desire  of  a  man  to  see  his  home 
after    many    years    spent    in    captivity ! — He    who    is 
'among  the  dead,'  is  a  living  god  who  spurns  the  sin 
of  him   who  commits  it ! — Whoever  is  there,   he  sits 
in  the  Boat  of  the  Sun,  and  presides  at  the  distribu- 
tion of  the  offerings  to  the  temples.     Whoever  is  there 
is  as  a  learned  man  to  whom  nothing  he  implores  of 
Ra  is  refused."     The  soul,  delighted  with  his  success, 
adds  a  few  well-chosen  words  of  congratulation  to  this 
8 


1 14    NEW   LIGHT   ON   ANCIENT   EGYPT 

profession  of  faith,  and  promises  not  to  desert  the  man 
in  his  hour  of  trial :  "  When  you  arrive  in  Hades  and 
your  body  still  belongs  to  the  earth,  I  will  keep  close 
to  you  while  you  rest,  and  we  will  dwell  together." 

Such  is  this  strange  manuscript,  one  of  the  most 
extraordinary  among  those  left  us  by  ancient  Egypt. 
The  language  is  concise  and  vigorous,  the  text  muti- 
lated, sometimes  incorrect,  and  I  am  not  sure  that  in  all 
places  we  have  extracted  the  correct  shades  of  meaning. 
I  can  speak  of  the  difficulties  it  presents  with  personal 
knowledge,  for  I  have  made  three  attempts  to  explain  its 
meaning  in  twenty  years  at  the  Ecole  des  H antes-Etudes, 
and  I  studied  it  most  carefully  without  succeeding  in 
satisfying  myself.  Erman  has  performed  a  veritable 
feat  in  translating  it,  and  if  everything  in  his  interpreta- 
tion is  not  certain,  the  fault  should  not  be  attributed 
to  him  but  to  the  perversity  of  the  chance  that  has  trans- 
mitted the  manuscript  in  the  most  unfavourable  circum- 
stances for  its  right  understanding.  For  that  reason  I 
can  scarcely  be  expected  to  hazard  an  opinion  as  to  its 
literary  value.  It  is  generally  conceded  that  the  author, 
conscious  of  the  banality  of  his  subject,  took  great  pains 
to  give  it  variety  and  to  render  the  expression  of  it 
artistic;  but,  unfortunately,  it  is  the  literary  art  that  we 
can  least  appreciate.  We  may  sometimes  divine  the 
sounds  of  the  rhymes,  the  assonances,  the  plays  upon 
words  depending  on  the  multiple  meanings  of  the 
roots,  the  harmony  or  contrasts  of  the  rhythms,  but 
our  comprehension  of  such  points  does  not  go  very  far. 
The  themes  and  the  topics  come  out  almost  quite  clearly, 
but  they  belong  to  a  religion,  to  customs,  to  a  political 
constitution,  to  methods  of  administration  that  we  im- 
perfectly know,  and  to  be  understood  require  a  com- 
mentary so  learned  that  it  almost  always  kills  the  little 
poetry  that  has  managed  to  survive.  The  translation 
of  the  dialogue  bears  the  same  relation  to  the  original 


A    PHILOSOPHICAL   DIALOGUE         115 

that  the  disjointed  skeleton  of  a  fossil  animal  bears  to 
the  living  prototypes  of  its  day.  It  provides  the  curious 
with  a  few  rusty  fragments  of  the  framework  of  the  com- 
position; but  the  undulation  of  the  contours,  the  con- 
trasts and  harmonies  of  the  colours,  the  spirit  which 
animated  it,  and  the  movement  which  vivified  it  are  all 
wanting. 


XIV 

AN  EGYPTIAN  BOOK  OF  MAGIC  OF  THE  FIRST  CENTURY  A.D. 

FROM  the  earliest  times  magic  was  the  great  Egyptian 
science.  Long  before  the  time  of  the  Pyramids,  sor- 
cerers fabricated  charms  by  which  they  controlled  the 
gods,  and  forced  them  to  do  whatever  was  demanded 
of  them ;  they  could  call  up  the  dead,  enchant  the  living, 
model  and  put  life  into  wax  dolls  made  in  the  form  of 
men  or  animals,  or  painlessly  cut  off  a  man's  head  and 
put  it  back  on  his  shoulders.  Conspirators  desiring  to 
get  rid  of  a  king  bewitched  him,  and  entered  into  collu- 
sion with  the  women  of  the  harem  to  procure  certain 
accessories  required  for  their  operations.  Speculators  in 
quest  of  hidden  wealth  exorcised  the  serpents  who  guarded 
the  treasure  in  the  Necropolis  of  Memphis.  Magic 
entered  into  all  the  acts  of  life,  into  all  its  passions,  love, 
hate,  ambition,  revenge,  into  the  care  of  the  sick.  Its 
adepts  continually  perfected  it  with  new  practices  in- 
vented by  themselves,  or  derived  from  foreign  parts; 
they  took  books  of  magic  and  amulets  from  Chaldasa, 
Syria,  Ethiopia,  Judaea,  Greece,  so  that  in  the  first 
century  A.D.  their  laboratory  and  their  library  com- 
prised, as  it  were,  the  quintessence  of  all  the  systems 
of  magic  in  use  from  one  end  of  the  Roman  Empire  to 
the  other. 

One  of  their  rituals,  compiled  about  the  time  of  the 
Antonines,  has  been  preserved;  part  of  it  is  in  the 
museum  of  Leyden,  and  part  in  the  British  Museum. 
It  is  written  in  the  latest  of  the  running  hands  of  Egypt, 

116 


AN   EGYPTIAN   BOOK   OF   MAGIC       117 

the  demotic,  the  small  appearance  and  confusing  turns 
of  which  still  puzzle  most  students.  Certain  fragments 
of  it  have  been  repeatedly  studied,  and  Groff  has  just 
published  a  complete  analysis,  so  that  those  who  are 
curious  on  the  subject  can  now  form  an  idea  of  the 
sorcerer's  equipment  at  that  time.1  He  was  only  a  pro- 
vincial relegated  to  one  of  the  secondary  towns  of  middle 
Egypt,  Oxyrynchus,  and  doubtless  possessed  only  this 
one  tool.  But  it  contained  all  he  needed  for  his  ordinary 
customers.  Did  they  wish  to  interview  a  divinity? 
Half-a-dozen  recipes  were  forthcoming,  more  or  less 
efficacious,  or  more  or  less  dangerous,  according  to  the 
purpose  of  the  consultation  and  the  fee  offered.  Others 
compelled  a  dead  person  to  come  out  of  the  tomb,  and 
reply  to  questions  asked  him.  To  force  a  man  to  love 
a  woman,  or  a  woman  to  love  a  man,  there  was  a  wide 
choice,  and  there  were  equally  numerous  ways  of  send- 
ing dreams  to  foes  or  friends,  to  compel  them  to  take 
the  desired  step.  Those  were  the  usual  things,  at  least 
in  the  district  of  Oxyrynchus.  The  practitioner  whose 
book  of  magic  we  are  reading  had  only  one  way  of  stop- 
ping or  averting  a  storm;  but  he  practised  medicine, 
and  cured  the  bite  of  a  dog  or  a  serpent  by  words, 
accompanied  with  curious  ceremonies.  He  had  a  list 
of  diseases  at  the  service  of  those  who  wished  to  get  rid 
of  a  relation  whose  property  he  expected  to  inherit,  or 
of  a  tifesome  neighbour;  he  distilled  philtres,  prepared 
and  consecrated  talismans,  at  need  he  told  fortunes.  All 
this  did  not  go  on  without  trouble,  or  without  arousing 
the  anger  of  the  populace  against  him.  The  law  pursued 
him,  the  priest  looked  askance  at  him,  the  anger  of  his 
victims  or  of  his  dupes  sometimes  overtook  him,  and 
the  spirits  he  dominated  did  not  save  him  from  public 

1  "Etudes  sur  la  sorcellerie  ou  le  role  que  la  Bible  a  joiie"  chez 
les  sorciers"  (extract  from  the  Mtmoires  de  FJnstitut  Egyptieri). 
1897- 


ii8     NEW   LIGHT   ON   ANCIENT   EGYPT 

condemnation  or  private  vengeance;  nevertheless,  the 
profits  of  the  profession  outweighed  the  disadvantages, 
and  those  who  adopted  it  made  a  fortune. 

The  technique  of  the  incantations  naturally  varied 
with  circumstances.  One  of  the  most  frequent,  that  in 
which  one  or  more  divinities  became  visible,  required 
elaborate  preparations,  and  the  assistance  of  a  special 
helper,  a  child,  a  little  boy  of  ten  or  twelve  years  old. 
Even  to-day  the  magician  who  calls  up  scenes  in  the 
mirror  of  magic  ink  cannot  look  at  them  himself,  for 
his  impurity  blinds  him  to  the  manifestation  of  the 
spirits;  a  child  pure  in  soul  and  body  is  alone 
capable  of  understanding  the  words  they  say,  or  of  in- 
terpreting their  acts.  The  sorcerer  procured  a  lamp 
that  had  never  been  used;  he  placed  a  new  wick  in  it, 
and  pure  oil,  then  he  retired  into  an  isolated  chamber, 
completely  dark,  and  consecrated,  and  lighted  the  lamp. 
As  soon  as  it  burned  steadily,  he  placed  the  child  in 
front  of  it,  bidding  him  fix  his  eyes  on  the  flame,  and 
declaimed  the  words  that  had  the  power  to  call  forth 
the  gods.  A  drug  previously  dissolved  in  the  oil,  a 
powder  thrown  on  the  wick  during  the  manipulations, 
gave  out  a  penetrating  perfume.  The  child  soon  saw  a 
figure  appear  either  by  the  side  of  the  flame,  or  in  the 
flame  itself.  He  informed  the  operator,  who  began  a 
new  prayer,  and  requested  the  help  of  the  being  who 
was  manifesting  himself  for  the  client  on  whose  behalf 
he  was  working.  It  sometimes  happened  that  the  god 
refused  to  take  any  part  in  the  matter,  or  that  he  was 
angered  by  the  importunate  person  who  disturbed  his 
peace,  and  then  the  divinity  would  ill-treat,  or  even  kill 
him.  A  sorcerer  of  Louxor,  having  discovered  a  col- 
league in  me,  was  not  averse  to  discussing  his  lore  with 
me,  but  refused  to  give  me  a  proof;  for  nearly  a  year, 
each  time  he  had  attempted  to  carry  out  some  manifesta- 
tion, the  red  sultan  who  presides  over  the  evil  genii  had 


AN   EGYPTIAN   BOOK   OF   MAGIC       119 

tried  to  strangle  him.  The  af rites  of  Mussulman  Egypt 
have  not,  as  we  see,  lost  the  tradition  of  the  gods  of 
Pharaonic  Egypt. 

The  pieces  in  the  demotic  collection  do  not  greatly 
differ  from  those  to  be  found  in  the  Agrippa  of  French 
rural  sorcerers.  Side  by  side  with  adjurations,  they 
offer  advice;  threats  are  expressed  in  intelligible  lan- 
guage, there  are  lists  of  odd  words  without  appreciable 
meaning  for  the  unlearned,  and  almost  always  for  the 
practitioner  who  recites  them.  Among  the  confusion  of 
terms  we  may  distinguish  names,  and  sometimes  frag- 
ments of  phrases  borrowed  from  foreign  languages,  the 
Ethiopian,  Greek  or  Hebrew.  The  gods  and  genii, 
by  what  law  we  do  not  know,  became  the  slaves  of  those 
who  called  them  by  their  real  name,  and  at  first,  in 
magic  as  in  religion,  the  name  under  which  the  com- 
munity worshipped  them  had  been  employed.  It  is 
probable  that  this  fashion  of  summoning  them  to  appear 
was  not  very  efficacious,  and  it  was  remembered  that  the 
terms  Amon,  Phtah,  Ra  were  purely  human  names  used 
by  the  community,  and  which,  consequently,  they  were 
not  compelled  to  obey.  They  had  special  names  to  dis- 
tinguish themselves  that  they  concealed  in  the  bottom  of 
their  hearts,  of  which  they  made  a  mystery  not  only  to 
mortals,  but  to  the  other  divinities.  The  chief  efforts 
of  the  magician,  therefore,  were  directed  to  surprise 
their  secret,  and  to  tear  from  them  the  word  that  would 
put  them  at  their  mercy;  the  word,  whether  because 
it  belonged  to  no  human  tongue,  or  because  it  came 
from  a  neighbouring  people,  remained  incomprehensible 
to  his  clients,  and  therein  lay  its  chief  merit.  It 
was  not  to  be  expected  that  one  of  the  beings  on  high 
would  leave  his  heavenly  dwelling  to  undertake  some 
amorous  commission  for  a  young  girl  when  he  was  simply 
addressed  as  Anubis  or  Thot;  but  how  could  he  help 
descending  to  earth  and  performing  what  he  was  asked 


to  do  when  he  was  proclaimed  Khabakhel,  Partomokh, 
or  Knouriphariza?  It  is  exceedingly  curious  suddenly 
to  come  across  the  name  Baal,  or  Adonai,  in  the  midst 
of  this  jargon.  The  Jews  played  so  great  a  part  in 
Egypt  from  the  time  of  Alexander,  that  we  ought  not 
to  be  surprised  if  their  sorcerers  lent  Egyptian  magicians 
some  of  the  expressions  they  used  in  their  opera- 
tions. They  gave  them  Jao,  Sabaoth,  Eloai,  Mikhael, 
Joel,  all  their  angels,  and  all  their  evil  spirits.  The 
ingenious  necromancer  even  laid  budding  Christianity 
under  contribution  :  Jesus  seems  to  have  been  invoked 
by  one  of  them,  and  John  not  far  off.  It  goes  without 
saying  that  the  divinities  of  the  Greeks  figure  by  the 
side  of  those  of  the  Asiatics  or  Africans.  Some  incan- 
tations comprise,  as  it  were,  a  sample  of  each  religion 
honoured  in  the  Oriental  provinces  of  the  Roman 
Empire. 

We  should  scarcely  suspect  what  a  large  part  magic 
played  in  ordinary  life  if  the  excavations  did  not  con- 
stantly prove  it.  Tablets  of  devotion  are  found  nearly 
everywhere,  at  Cyprus,  at  Carthage,  in  Gaul,  formerly 
prepared  by  magicians  for  clients  who  trusted  their 
efficacy.  They  are  thin  sheets  of  lead,  rolled  or  folded 
over,  with  writing  or  mysterious  figures  scratched  on 
them.  Sometimes  they  were  fastened  to  the  wall  of  a 
house  or  a  tomb,  sometimes  they  were  slipped  into  the 
tomb  itself  by  the  opening  through  which  libations 
were  poured  and  prayers  uttered.  The  manes  and 
demons  who  dwelt  there  were  excellent  tools  in  the  hands 
of  the  sorcerers,  especially  the  souls  of  suicides,  of 
criminals,  of  murdered  persons,  of  all  who  died  a  violent 
death  before  their  time,  and  who  had  to  live  near  their 
bodies  until  the  period  predestined  for  their  earthly  life 
was  accomplished.  The  commissions  entrusted  to  them 
were  manifold.  They  were  told  the  names  of  the  horses 
down  to  run  in  the  circus,  and  were  ordered  to  make 


AN   EGYPTIAN   BOOK    OF   MAGIC       121 

them  ill,  or  restive,  to  drive  them  mad,  or  to  paralyze 
them,  in  short,  to  prevent  them  from  winning  the  race. 
Or  Domitius  would  require  them  to  act  for  him  with  his 
mistress,  Candida,  and  to  kindle  such  hot  love  in  her 
that  her  heart  should  burn,  and  never  be  extinguished. 
The  incantations  somewhat  differed  in  form  from  those 
in  the  book  of  the  sorcerer  of  Oxyrynchus;  they  are 
not  there  translated  into  Greek  or  Latin,  but  they  are 
constructed  on  the  same  model,  they  let  loose  the  same 
evil  powers,  they  abound  in  similar  mystical  names  and 
strange  expressions;  it  is  Egyptian  or  Hebrew  magic 
acclimatized  in  the  West.  The  compilation  examined 
by  Groff  was  only  one  of  the  least  of  the  books  of  magic 
in  use  in  the  Roman  world.  They  were  counted  by 
the  hundred,  and  the  abuses  due  to  them  ended  by 
alarming  the  Emperors,  and  the  books  were  ordered 
to  be  destroyed.  The  edicts,  even  supported  by  the  exe- 
cution of  notorious  magicians,  and  of  those  who  had 
recourse  to  their  science,  had  no  lasting  influence,  for, 
had  the  magistrates  carried  them  out  effectually,  the 
population  of  several  provinces  would  have  been 
decimated. 


XV 

ARCHAIC   EGYPT 

UNTIL  lately  the  Egypt  of  Cheops  and  of  Chephren 
marked  the  limit  in  the  past  to  which  our  eyes  could 
reach.  We  saw  it  clearly  and  distinctly  in  full  posses- 
sion of  its  art  and  its  political  and  social  laws,  but 
farther  back  the  monuments  suddenly  ceased,  and 
nothing  more  could  be  distinguished.  It  seemed  that 
the  mass  of  the  Pyramids  interposed  between  it  and 
the  Egypt  that  had  preceded  it.  Now  it  is  revealed  in 
its  turn  at  Abydos  as  at  Negadeh,  and  its  most  ancient 
kings  have  arisen  from  their  tombs. 

Flinders  Petrie  discovered  tombs  of  a  peculiar  aspect 
between  Negadeh  and  Dallas;  many  of  them  seemed  to 
belong  to  a  race  of  Libyan  invaders.  In  the  beginning 
of  1897  De  Morgan,  following  Petrie's  footsteps,  opened 
a  massive  mastaba  of  unbaked  bricks,  decorated  on  the 
outside  with  the  long  prismatic  grooves  so  frequent  on 
monuments  of  the  old  empire.1  The  twenty-one 
chambers  of  which  it  is  composed  contain  with  the 
remains  of  the  skeleton  a  funerary  equipment  of  a  rich- 
ness commensurate  with  the  rank  of  the  person.  The 
arms  and  tools  are  mostly  of  flint,  the  table  service  of 
different  kinds  of  stone  or  of  black  and  red  pottery,  the 
furniture  of  wood  overlaid  with  ivory,  the  ornaments  of 
paste,  tortoise-shell,  mother-of-pearl,  cornelian,  crystal, 
gold;  fragments  of  food  were  mingled  with  rags  of 

1  Recherches  sur  les  origines  de  FEgypte,  ethnographic  prthistorique  et 
tombeau  royal  de  Ntgadeh,  by  J.  de  Morgan,  with  the  collaboration  of 
Messrs.  Wiedemann  and  Jdquier,  and  of  Dr.  Fouquet.  Paris,  1897. 


page  122. 


THE  SO-CALLED  PALETTE  OF  NARMER,  A  MONUMENT  OF  ARCHAIC  EGYPT. 


ARCHAIC   EGYPT  123 

calcined  stuffs.  A  certain  number  of  these  objects  are  of 
fine  workmanship,  and  their  artistic  form  nearly  re- 
sembles that  of  the  monuments  of  later  times.  An  ivory 
statuette  of  a  dog  or  a  lion  is  sufficiently  commonplace, 
but  the  feet  of  an  arm-chair  or  of  a  bed,  also  in  ivory, 
yield  in  nothing  to  the  best  work  of  the  Memphian 
sculptors,  and  figures  of  fish  have  an  accurate  and  pleas- 
ing physiognomy.  Indeed,  there  is  nothing  in  it  that 
points  to  the  beginnings  of  an  art.  We  feel  that  the 
men  to  whom  we  owe  it  had  a  long  tradition  behind 
them.  When  the  tomb  was  built  Egypt  had  emerged 
from  her  infancy,  and  civilization  had  developed  the 
chief  characteristics  that  show  themselves  under  the 
modern  Pharaohs;  it  was  entirely  of  the  Nile,  and 
possesses  no  element  necessarily  to  be  attributed  to  out- 
side influence.  If  the  people  came  from  Asia,  and  there 
is  nothing  to  prove  it,  they  preserved  no  trace  of  their 
origin;  the  valley  of  the  Nile  assimilated  them,  a  con- 
summation always  reached  with  all  its  invaders. 

The  clay  caps  formerly  used  to  close  jars  of  wine,  beer 
or  water,  offered  to  the  dead  man  to  quench  his  thirst, 
were  sealed  with  one  of  his  names.  The  characters  are 
easily  deciphered,  and  as  soon  as  a  drawing  had  been 
made  of  it  in  Europe  the  title  of  enthronization,  Horou 
Ahoui,  Horus  warrior,  Horus  male,  announced  by  the 
king  when  the  crown  was  placed  on  his  head,  could  be 
read.1  Inscriptions  were  not  rare  on  other  objects,  but 
they  consisted  of  a  few  signs,  figures  indicating  the 
quantity  of  each  substance  presented  to  the  master,  and 
especially  a  group  of  three  ostriches,  and  the  word  baiou 
(the  souls)  which  attributes  the  ownership  of  the  vases  or 
coffers  on  which  they  are  engraved  to  the  souls  of  the 
king.  A  sacrificial  scene  engraved  on  an  ivory  plaque 
had  the  chapel  of  the  tomb  for  its  stage;  two  crouching 

1  It  seems  that  this  is  the  name  of  enthronization  of  the  second  king 
of  the  1st  Dynasty,  Atoti,  son  of  Menes.     1907. 


i24     N£W   LIGHT    ON   ANCIENT   EGYPT 

animals  can  still  be  distinguished,  perhaps  the  two  oxen 
who  dragged  the  sledge,  the  sledge  itself  in  the  shape  of 
the  sacred  boat  dedicated  to  Sokaris,  the  God  of  Hades, 
then  the  royal  prenomen,  warlike  Horus,  and  perhaps 
under  a  light  kiosk,  perhaps  under  one  of  the  small 
obelisks  common  enough  in  the  old  Memphian  tombs, 
his  real  name,  preceded  by  one  of  the  most  frequent  titles 
of  the  protocol,  ruler  of  the  South  and  of  the  North. 
It  comprises  only  one  hieroglyph,  the  draught-board 
which  stands  for  Manou,  and  it  escaped  the  discoverers 
of  the  tomb.  It  is,  however,  the  Egyptian  spelling  of 
him  whom  the  Greeks  transcribed  Menes,  and  if  we  like 
we  may  recognize  the  first  king  of  the  1st  Dynasty, 
the  oldest  of  the  mortals  who  reigned  after  the  gods,  in 
the  person  buried  at  Negadeh.  Are  we  justified  in 
doing  this,  and  is  this  Manou  any  Menes,  or  the  tradi- 
tional Menes?  The  Egyptian  scribes,  when  they  drew 
up  th'e  list  of  sovereigns  who  ruled  the  whole  of  Egypt, 
must  have  had  an  embarrassing  task.  They  read  on  the 
oldest  monuments,  tombs,  temples,  inscriptions,  isolated 
bas-reliefs,  names  of  kings  whose  filiation  and  chrono- 
logical order  did  not  always  appear  clear.  They  omitted 
several  that  accident  has  revealed  to  us,  and  they  classi- 
fied the  others  according  to  rules  that  we  have  not  dis- 
covered, so  as  to  make  Dynasties  of  them;  their  length 
and  the  order  of  the  Pharaohs  in  each  of  them  followed 
no  fixed  rule,  and  varied  according  to  the  epochs.  In 
the  two  first  dynasties  they  placed  princes  considered  to 
be  natives  of  Thinis,  a  certain  Menes  at  their  head. 
Thinis,  which  occupied  almost  exactly  the  site  of  the 
modern  Girgeh,  is  somewhat  distant  from  Negadeh,  and 
it  is  to  be  doubted  if  the  scribes  would  have  admitted  a 
king  not  buried  at  Thinis,  as  the  founder  of  a  Thinite 
dynasty.  The  wisest  course,  then,  before  pronouncing 
decisively  on  the  question  of  the  identity  of  our  Manou 
or  Menes,  is  to  await  the  discovery  of  new  documents. 


ARCHAIC   EGYPT  125 

For  the  moment  it  is  sufficient  to  have  drawn  attention 
to  a  similarity  in  the  names,  to  the  great  antiquity  of 
Manou,  to  the  possibility  of  rinding  in  him  the  prototype 
of  the  fabulous  Menes  i1  time  will  decide  the  rest. 

Perhaps  there  are  contemporaries  of  this  prince  in  the 
tombs  excavated  near  Abydos  by  Am&ineau.  Several  of 
the  inscriptions  noticed  there  seem  to  have  the  same 
archaic  style,  but  most  of  the  monuments  have  a  much 
more  modern  appearance,  and  belong  to  a  far  less 
remote  epoch.2  A  small  ivory  plaque  that  has  come  into 
the  hands  of  an  English  amateur  shows  us  a  Pharaoh, 
he  who  is  called  Horus  of  striking  stature,  Horoit-douni, 
fighting  an  enemy  fallen  in  front  of  him.  It  is  also  the 
subject  of  the  most  ancient  Egyptian  bas-relief  so  far 
known  to  us;  King  Snofroui,  who  ends  the  Illrd 
Dynasty  or  begins  the  IVth,  sculptured  it  at  Sinai  in 
order  to  perpetuate  the  memory  of  his  victories  over  the 
Bedouins.  The  style  and  composition  of  the  ivory  pic- 
ture so  closely  resemble  those  of  the  rock  picture  that 
Spiegelberg  does  not  hesitate  to  place  the  Horou-douni 
about  the  Illrd  Dynasty.  That  is  what  I  thought,  and 
inscriptions  discovered  last  year  confirm  that  opinion  in 
a  surprising  fashion.  They  came  from  a  very  large  tomb 
which  belonged  to  a  king  named  Horus-Sit,  in  whom 
the  two  divine  forms,  Horou-SU  Khd-sakhmoui  were 
manifested.  Several  of  the  functionaries  attached  to  this 
personage  left  the  impression  of  their  seal  on  certain  of 
the  objects  of  which  gifts  are  made  to  the  double;  one 
of  them  belongs  to  a  lady,  Hapounimait  who  was  the 
wife  or  relative  of  Kha-sakhmoui.  Now,  an  inscription  at 

1  I  have  since  learnt  that  he  has  just  been  recognized  by  Borchardt, 
one  of  the   German  Egyptologists  recently  attached  to  the  Ghizeh 
Museum,  and  that  encourages  me  to  persevere  in  the  possible  identifi- 
cation, if  not  of  the  person,  at  least  of  the  name. 

2  Amdlineau,   in    showing  the   results   of   his   discoveries   to  the 
Academy  of  Inscriptions,  did  not  distinguish  between  the  monuments  : 
he  presented  them  anyhow,  those  of  the  Coptic  age  confused  with 
those  of  the  early  Dynasties. 


126     NEW   LIGHT   ON   ANCIENT   EGYPT 

Memphis,  in  which  Snofroui  appears,  mentions,  though 
I  do  not  wish  to  insist  on  it  too  emphatically,  a  queen 
of  the  same  name.  If,  as  certain  indications  authorize 
us  to  suppose,  the  queen  of  the  tomb  at  Memphis  is 
identical  with  that  of  the  tomb  at  Thinis,  it  is  possible 
that  our  Kha-sakhmoui  is  one  of  the  immediate  prede- 
cessors of  Snofroui,  perhaps  his  father  or  his  grand- 
father.1 In  any  case  it  establishes  a  link  between  the 
Pharaohs  of  the  Memphian  Empire  and  those  of  the 
Thinite  Empire  that  our  excavators  tried  to  discover 
between  the  Cheops  of  the  great  pyramid  of  Gizeh  and 
the  indefinite  Menes  of  Negadeh. 

For  more  than  twenty  years  the  study  of  the  Mem- 
phian tombs  has  led  me  to  teach  that  the  Egypt  of  the 
Pyramids  was  the  end,  and  even  the  decadence,  of  an 
earlier  Egypt.  The  language  was  perishing  of  old  age,  the 
religion  was  changing,  art  was  revealing  itself  the  nearer 
perfection  the  farther  back  it  went  into  the  past,  political 
organization  and  social  life  tended  to  grow  slack.  The 
discoveries  of  Negadeh  and  Abydos  enable  us  to  put  our 
finger  on  the  civilization  I  only  guessed  at.  Ideas  and 
customs  of  which  later  generations  only  preserved  a 
vague  memory  prevail  there.  The  dead,  for  instance, 
were  not  mummified ;  they  were  mutilated,  dismembered, 
and  the  bones  afterwards  placed  in  the  sepulchral 
chamber.  Sometimes  the  corpse  was  burnt  with  its 
funerary  equipment,  and  the  whole  tomb  was  set  on  fire 
in  the  last  act  of  the  funeral  ceremonies.2  Human 
sacrifice  was  currently  practised,  and  probably  also  a 
ritual  of  cannibalism  was  indulged  in.  Several  prayers 

1  After  ten  years  all  this  still  remains  in  a  state  of  hypothesis,  and 
there  are  no  certified  documents  to  settle  any  of  the  proposed  classifi- 
cations of  these  kings. 

2  The  tomb  of  Negadeh  had  been  burnt,  and  M.  de  Morgan  at  first 
believed  that  it  had  been  intentionally  set  on  fire,  probably  in  the  last 
act  of  the  funeral ;  since,  it  has  been  found  that  the  fire  was  caused, 
perhaps  accidentally,  by  the  thieves  who  plundered  the  tomb. 


ARCHAIC   EGYPT  127 

engraved  in  the  interior  of  the  pyramids  of  the  Vth  and 
Vlth  Dynasties  had  pointed  to  this  already,  and  they 
must  have  been  composed  in  the  time  of  those  old  kings, 
perhaps  even  before  their  time,  in  the  centuries  before 
any  Pharaohs  existed.  In  examining  the  gnawed  bones 
and  the  dismembered  skeletons,  it  can  now  be  under- 
stood what  the  ferocious  Osiris,  whose  existence  I  divined 
in  those  archaic  formulas,  was  like ;  in  the  beginning  the 
pre-eminently  good  Being  of  the  Egyptian  religion  had 
been  animated  by  the  cruel  instincts  of  her  people,  and 
she  only  gradually  became  gentler  as  the  people  grew 
more  civilized.  And  yet  in  spite  of  the  barbarity  of  the 
manners,  and  the  simplicity  of  the  tools,  it  must  be  con- 
fessed that  we  are  far  from  the  very  beginning.  The 
writing  exists,  and  its  system  is  already  complete.  The 
hieroglyphics  have  their  classical  value,  and  we  can 
decipher  them  without  difficulty  wherever  it  is  not  a  case 
of  hasty  scratchings  traced  on  a  fragment  of  a  vase  by  a 
hurried  workman.  As  we  felt  that  there  is  the  Egypt  of 
Menes  always  powerful,  always  civilized  behind  the  Egypt 
of  the  Pyramids,  so  now  we  catch  a  glimpse  of  a  still 
more  primitive  Egypt,  but  past  its  early  youth  and  well 
equipped  for  existence,  behind  the  Egypt  of  Menes. 
Somewhere  its  monuments  repose  beneath  the  sand; 
they  will  rise  up  as  soon  as  we  have  money  enough  to 
call  them  forth. 


XVI 

EGYPTIAN  BELIEF  IN  LUCKY  AND  UNLUCKY  DAYS 

THERE  are  many  persons,  even  at  the  present  time, 
who  hesitate  to  start  on  their  travels  on  a  Friday,  and  if 
they  do  so,  they  feel  uncomfortable  and  anxious.  Others, 
even,  do  not  hesitate  at  all,  and  prefer  not  to  start. 
It  means  a  distinct  loss  of  a  day  a  week,  and,  as  fear  of 
accident  does  not  stop  with  some  people  even  there, 
considerable  disarrangement  of  things  in  general  is 
caused  by  such  an  attitude.  But  however  great  the 
time  thus  lost  by  some  persons  now,  it  is  very  small 
compared  with  what  the  Egyptians  lost  in  the  cause  of 
superstition  in  the  Pharaonic  age,  even  those  who  in 
their  country  and  their  day  would  have  been  considered 
sceptics. 

A  papyrus  in  the  British  Museum  contains  a  calendar 
in  which  a  learned  contemporary  of  Ramses  II  had, 
according  to  the  works  of  certain  former  seers,  marked 
the  good  or  evil  virtue  of  the  days  of  the  year.1  We 
only  possess  about  two-thirds  of  it,  a  little  less  than 
eight  months,  but  each  day  is  conscientiously  qualified. 
The  hours  between  the  rising  and  setting  of  the  sun, 
the  only  ones  that  are  of  importance,  are  divided  into 
three  seasons  of  four,  each  of  which  is  ruled  by  its 
particular  influence.  Most  often  their  quality  was  the 
same,  and  the  whole  day  was  placed  in  the  category 
either  of  propitious  or  fatal  days.  Sometimes,  however, 

1  The  Papyrus  Saltier,  No.  IV,  published  in  facsimile  in  the  Select 
Papyri,  Vol.  i,  translated,  with  notes  by  Chabas.  "  Le  Calendrier  des 
jours,  fastes  et  neiastes,"  CEuvres  diverses,  Vol.  v,  pp.  126-235. 

128 


BELIEF   IN   LUCKY   DAYS  129 

it  happened  that  one  of  the  periods  had  one  value,  while 
another  assumed  another  value,  and  there  were  also 
mixed  days  on  which  fortune  differed  every  minute. 
The  scribe  has  carefully  registered  these  oscillations, 
and  has  placed  a  warning  note  for  the  reader  after  each 
date,  good,  good,  good  or  hostile,  hostile,  hostile,  or 
good,  good,  hostile,  or  any  combination  to  which  the 
division  into  three  groups  lends  itself.  He  indicates 
afterwards  the  things  to  be  done  or  avoided,  the  animals 
whose  encounter  or  sight  should  be  shunned,  and  adds 
to  this  information  a  summary  of  the  motives  which 
justified  his  recommendations.  It  was  in  almost  every 
case  a  legendary  episode  of  the  gods,  and  as  our  know- 
ledge of  Egyptian  mythology  is  very  far  from  thorough 
we  are  often  at  a  loss  as  to  the  events  and  personages 
alluded  to.  We  merely  perceive  that  a  victory,  or  some 
pleasant  experience  of  one  of  the  immortals  at  that 
particular  date  and  hour,  had  some  undefined  effect  on 
mortals  and  gave  them  a  chance  of  prosperity.  On 
the  other  hand,  the  consequences  of  a  disaster  in  heaven 
made  themselves  felt  on  earth  for  a  long  period  of  time ; 
thus  men  were  benefited  or  injured  by  the  pleasure  or 
pain  of  the  gods. 

The  results  of  these  old  sacred  stories  were  often 
strange,  and  showed  themselves  in  unexpected  ways. 
The  23rd  of  the  month  of  Thot  is  marked  as  thrice 
lucky,  and  yet  the  restrictions  heaped  on  that  day  equal 
in  number  those  of  unlucky  days.  Incense  must  not 
be  burnt,  nor  oxen  nor  goats  nor  ducks  be  killed,  nor 
geese  be  eaten,  nor  music  be  played  or  listened  to,  and 
the  child  who  was  born  would  not  live.  How,  then,  did 
this  lucky  day  differ  from  unlucky  days  ?  It  was  prob- 
ably so  well  known  at  Thebes  that  the  author  deemed  it 
unnecessary  to  inform  posterity,  and  we  are  left  in 
ignorance  until  a  new  order  of  things  shall  inform  us. 
The  25th  of  the  same  month  was  reckoned  favour- 
9 


i3o     NEW   LIGHT   ON   ANCIENT   EGYPT 

able  in  the  first  two  seasons,  but  the  last  was  unfavour- 
able; demons  allied  with  Set  had  formerly  committed 
some  misdeed  in  the  afternoon,  and  the  terror  they 
inspired  explains  why  believers  were  enjoined  not  to 
leave  their  houses  in  the  evening  hours.  The  6th  of 
Paophi  was  the  fete-day  of  Ra,  the  Sun,  and  the  gods 
held  a  family  rejoicing;  it  is  probable  that  they  drank 
deep  on  the  occasion,  for  the  child  born  on  that  day 
was  destined  to  die  of  intoxication.  It  was,  it  seems, 
an  enviable  fate,  but  there  was  a  still  better  one :  the 
man  or  woman  who  first  saw  the  light  on  the  loth  of 
Khoiak  would  die  with  "  a  piece  of  bread  in  their  hand, 
and  their  mouths  full  of  beer,"  the  eye  delighted  by  the 
sight  of  a  well-plenished  table.  I  have  said  elsewhere 
how  unfavourable  prognostics  might  be  temporarily 
warded  off;  amulets  or  magic  formulas  permitted  the 
threatened  individual  to  postpone  the  moment  of  their 
realization.  Whoever  had  the  misfortune  to  be  born 
on  the  23rd  of  Paophi  would  be  devoured  by  a  crocodile, 
but  if  he  protected  himself  with  the  suggested  incanta- 
tions he  would  succeed  in  lengthening  his  life  into 
extreme  old  age;  his  crocodile  would  have  to  wait  all 
that  time  unless  some  carelessness  delivered  him  to  his 
mercy  sooner. 

Injunctions  with  regard  to  fire  are  not  rare  in  our 
calendar.  Fire  was  not  tamed  as  completely  as  it  is 
with  us;  as  it  could  only  be  produced  by  means  of  a 
long  and  difficult  operation,  it  was  carefully  nourished, 
and  great  trouble  was  taken  not  to  let  it  go  out.  It 
was,  in  fact,  a  veritable  living  being,  an  almost  divine 
animal,  who  was  worshipped  and  treated  with  the  respect 
due  to  the  genii  superior  to  humanity,  but  at  certain 
times  it  grew  angry,  and  was  then  to  be  distrusted.  On 
the  5th  of  Athyr,  if  it  went  out,  it  might  not  be 
rekindled,  if  it  burned,  it  might  not  be  looked  at;  its 
brightness  would  fascinate  those  who  let  their  eyes  stray 


BELIEF   IN   LUCKY   DAYS  131 

towards  it,  and  would  draw  them  into  it  and  consume 
them.  The  yth  of  Tobi,  there  was  an  order  to  keep 
the  flame  brilliant,  in  order  to  ward  off  the  evil  spirits 
who  attack  the  house.  On  the  nth  of  the  same  month 
no  one  might  approach  the  fire-place,  for  the  god  Ra 
had  once  burst  into  flame  on  that  day  in  order  to  devour 
his  enemies,  and  the  effects  of  his  metamorphosis  were 
felt  each  anniversary.  The  person  who  ventured  near 
fire  was  penetrated  by  a  sort  of  subtle  aura,  and  had 
feeble  health  for  the  rest  of  his  life.  I  should  add  that 
on  that  point  modern  Egypt  has  inherited  the  super- 
stitions  of  ancient  Egypt.  There  are  days  in  the  year 
on  which  the  fellaheen  of  Thebes  and  the  Said  refuse 
to  kindle  a  fire,  others  when  they  avoid  approaching  the 
flame,  even  of  a  candle  or  lamp,  and  the  most  timid 
do  not  smoke.  I  often  tried  to  find  out  the  reason  of 
their  fear,  but  Egyptian  peasants  are  much  like  French 
peasants.  They  suspect  the  foreigner  who  questions 
them  about  such  matters  of  wishing  to  ridicule  them, 
and  either  they  make  no  reply  at  all  or  only  a  very 
brief  one.  Some  of  them,  all  Mussulmans,  told  me  that 
on  those  days  fire  kindled  by  men  changed  into  hell 
fire,  and  killed  with  short  shrift  all  living  beings  or 
inanimate  things  that  felt  its  heat.  It  is  exactly  the 
same  reason  as  that  given  in  the  time  of  the  Pharaohs, 
but  no  one  could  or  would  tell  me  why  the  flame  under- 
went this  troublesome  change  on  a  particular  day. 

It  was  thought  that  many  beasts  possessed  mysterious 
means  of  self-defence,  from  which  not  only  the  hunter 
but  any  one  who  chanced  to  encounter  them  could 
scarcely  escape.  The  lion,  like  the  serpent,  could 
fascinate  with  its  look;  a  glance  of  the  eye  of  certain 
species  of  antelopes  immobilized  and  petrified,  so  to 
speak;  the  scorpion  enclosed  its  victim  in  a  circle  that 
he  could  not  get  out  of,  and  other  creatures  were  so  un- 
wholesome that  if  a  man  merely  looked  at  them  he 


132     NEW   LIGHT    ON   ANCIENT   EGYPT 

immediately  withered  away.  The  influence  proper  to 
each  day  increased  or  diminished  the  influence  proper 
to  each  beast.  There  were  certain  moments  in  each 
season  when  anything  might  be  looked  at  without  any 
resultant  harm;  the  28th  of  Thot,  the  3rd,  8th,  i3th, 
i6th,  28th  of  Paophi;  the  7th,  nth,  25th,  3Oth  of 
Athyr;  the  2nd,  yth,  8th,  22nd,  3Oth  of  Khoiak,  and  so 
on,  from  decade  to  decade,  every  one  could  look  on  what 
he  would  at  will,  and  the  lion  would  not  fascinate  him, 
the  scorpion  would  not  enfold  him,  the  antelope  would 
not  petrify  him,  no  serpent  would  exercise  on  him 
his  destructive  power.  By  the  side  of  animals  who 
were  harmful  by  nature  there  were  others  who  only 
owed  their  perversity  to  the  malignity  of  the  day,  for 
instance,  the  rat  and  the  ox.  If  rats  or  mice  had  been 
dangerous  in  themselves  Egypt  would  soon  have  been 
depopulated,  for  their  number  is  legion,  or  the  fellah 
would  have  had  to  live  with  his  eyes  closed  in  order 
never  to  see  them  in  the  house  or  fields.  But  there  were 
moments  when  the  rat,  poor  wretch,  became  terrible 
without  suspecting  it,  by  virtue  of  the  calendar.  On 
the  1 2th  of  Tobi,  believers  were  advised  not  to  look 
at  a  rat,  or  if  his  eyes  accidentally  rested  on  one,  to 
keep  at  a  respectful  distance;  on  a  certain  i2th  of  Tobi 
the  rat  had  once  served  Sokhit  in  one  of  her  expedi- 
tions, and  something  of  the  virulence  of  the  goddess  had 
remained  with  it.  The  bull,  too,  became  dangerous 
for  mythological  reasons  at  a  certain  fixed  date.  His 
body  was  one  of  those  into  which  the  gods  preferred 
to  enter  when  they  descended  on  earth  to  visit  mortals. 
Any  one  meeting  a  bull  when  he  was  possessed  by  a 
god  was  threatened  with  sudden  death.  People  were 
careful  not  to  kill  an  ox  on  the  2Oth  of  Thot,  for  the 
2oth  of  Thot  was  one  of  the  days  on  which  it  pleased 
the  gods  to  incarnate  themselves  in  bulls,  and  so  in 
killing  the  beast  a  god  might  be  injured.  An  ox  might 


BELIEF   IN   LUCKY   DAYS  133 

not  be  led  by  a  leash  on  the  2Oth  of  Pharmouti,  for 
fear  that  one  of  the  evil  spirits  let  loose  on  that  day, 
knocking  against  the  animal,  might  be  introduced  into 
it,  and  inspire  it  with  the  temptation  to  gore  its  leader. 
The  25th  of  Paophi,  which,  like  the  2Oth  of  Thot,  was 
a  great  day  with  the  gods  for  excursions  on  earth,  people 
avoided  meeting  a  herd,  for  if  one  of  the  oxen  was 
incarnated  great  harm  ensued;  the  passer-by  would 
certainly  fall  dead. 

But  the  worst  was  that  on  certain  days  men  them- 
selves acquired  terrible  properties.  People  were  warned 
not  to  contemplate  the  work  of  the  fields  on  the  nth 
and  1 2th  of  Pharmouti.  They  should  not  watch  over 
the  tillage,  nor  the  harvest,  nor  the  ploughing  of  the 
soil,  for  once,  at  that  time,  Montou  forced  the  enemies 
of  Ra  to  fulfil  these  servile  tasks  for  him ;  the  human 
eye  looking  at  the  labourers  or  gardeners  let  loose 
misfortune  against  them.  Even  to-day  the  fellaheen 
do  not  like  to  be  looked  at  or  to  have  their  doings 
observed  with  too  close  an  attention ;  they  immediately 
suspect  a  jettatore,  and  they  make  a  gesture  or  murmur 
a  formula  which  protects  them.  The  superstition  of 
the  evil  eye  was  rife  in  ancient  Egypt,  and  every  sort 
of  precaution  was  invented  for  guarding  against  those  of 
either  sex  afflicted  with  the  vice.  The  most  common 
and  most  efficacious  of  the  talismans  with  which  people 
armed  themselves  against  it  was  the  charm  of  the  Eye 
of  Horus,  the  ouzatt,  which  an  enterprising  jeweller  tried 
to  restore  to  fashion  a  few  years  ago.  The  Eye  is  there 
represented  with  its  thick  eyebrow  and  with  the  marks 
of  kohol,  with  which  the  Egyptians  adorned  the  eyelids, 
for  hygienic  reasons  as  well  as  from  coquetry.  Some- 
times there  could  be  distinguished  in  the  pupil  the  tiny 
human  image  that  all  ancient  peoples  thought  to  dis- 
cern in  the  eye  of  a  living  being,  recognizing  therein 
a  manifestation  of  the  soul.  Fastened  to  the  wrist, 


134     NEW   LIGHT   ON   ANCIENT   EGYPT 

worn  round  the  neck,  hung  on  the  necklace,  or  sewed  on 
a  garment,  the  ouzait  was  not  less  efficacious  than  the 
tiger-claws  or  little  horns  worn  by  the  Neapolitans  to- 
day. It  may  be  seen  in  mystic  paintings  placed  on 
slender  legs,  and  strengthened  by  slim  hands  which 
stretch  the  bow ;  it  pierces  the  evil  spirits  set  free  by  the 
jettatore,  and  its  strength,  derived  from  that  of  the  Sun, 
triumphs  over  their  attacks. 

It  goes  without  saying  that  no  one  would  start  on  a 
journey,  or  even  leave  the  house  for  a  walk,  without 
reflecting  twice.  The  almanack  must  be  consulted  if  it 
was  desired  to  set  foot  out  of  doors,  and  the  restrictions 
imposed  by  it  made  things  fairly  awkward  for  those  who 
resigned  themselves  to  observing  them.  The  reproach 
of  imprudence  was  deserved  if  any  one  embarked  on 
the  Nile  on  Paophi  22nd,  for  there  was  risk  of  being 
devoured  by  a  crocodile.  On  Athyr  4th,  life  was  safe, 
but  the  home  would  be  ruined  by  a  simple  expedition  in 
a  boat.  On  Athyr  igth  there  were  whirlpools  in  the 
river,  and  it  could  not  be  ascended  or  descended  without 
the  risk  of  being  engulfed;  in  fact,  it  was  better  to 
stay  at  home.  To  travel  by  boat  on  Mechir  igth  or 
24th  was  not  to  be  thought  of.  Most  often,  indeed, 
people  barricaded  themselves  in  their  houses,  and  did 
not  stir  out,  "so  fearful  were  they  of  accidents.  If 
they  took  a  breath  of  fresh  air  about  five  o'clock  in 
the  afternoon  of  Paophi  i5th,  they  ran  a  great  risk. 
The  serpent  Ouat,  one  of  the  mythological  dragons  with 
which  Egypt  was  infested,  went  about  unrestrained  all 
the  evening  with  his  train  of  malignant  spirits;  who- 
ever chanced  to  see  him  was  at  once  struck  blind.  On 
the  27th  of  Pharmouti,  the  goddess  Sokhit  made  a 
terrible  disturbance  among  men ;  it  was  advisable  not 
to  venture  out  of  doors  on  any  pretext  from  the  rising 
of  the  sun  to  its  setting,  in  order  not  to  be  haunted  by 
her.  If  any  one  walked  in  the  open  air  on  Pakhons  5th, 


BELIEF   IN   LUCKY    DAYS  135 

he  was  sure  to  catch  a  fever.  In  most  cases  the  scribe 
contents  himself  with  saying:  "Do  not  leave  the 
house,"  without  specifying  the  nature  of  the  evil  by 
which  the  breaking  of  the  law  would  be  punished,  but 
he  nearly  always  mentions  the  reasons  which  made  dis- 
obedience dangerous,  and  they  are  so  serious  that  the 
reader  comprehends  without  much  elaboration :  it  is 
death  with  short  shrift.  The  number  of  days  tabooed 
varied  according  to  the  months,  six  in  Paophi,  seven 
in  Khoiak  and  Phamenot,  five  in  Pharmouti,  and  so 
on;  it  may  be  reckoned  that  popular  superstition 
rendered  useless  about  one-fifth  of  the  year. 

The  Egyptians  were  not  the  only  people  affected  by 
these  kinds  of  superstitions;  the  Chaldaeans,  the 
Assyrians,  the  Elamites,  all  the  Semitic  races  of  the  old 
world  suffered  equally  under  them,  and  classical  nations, 
the  Greeks  and  Romans,  yielded  in  nothing  to  the 
Orientals.  Hesiod,  in  his  Works  and  Days,  sketches  a 
plan  of  months  in  which  he  notes  their  good  and  evil 
influences,  with  the  tasks  to  be  fulfilled  or  avoided. 
Mythology  plays  its  part,  and  we  learn,  for  instance, 
that  the  5th  is  unlucky  because  of  the  Furies;  they 
traverse  the  world  on  that  date  in  order  to  chastise 
perjury.  The  7th  owes  its  sacred  character  to  the  birth 
of  Apollo;  it  is  quite  safe  to  thresh  the  corn  about  mid- 
day, and  it  is  good  to  cut  wood  for  making  beds  or  light 
boats.  The  antique  world  was  wholly  plunged  in  super- 
stition. Man  felt  himself  surrounded  by  mysterious 
tribes,  gods,  genii,  demons,  wandering  souls,  elemental 
creatures  of  unfinished  shape  and  almost  unconscious, 
whose  course  crossed  his,  and  whose  life  was  mingled 
with  his  life  from  the  day  of  his  birth  until  that  of  his 
death.  The  perpetual  danger  with  which  they  threat- 
ened him  was  all  the  more  terrible  since  he  did  not 
perceive  them  as  he  saw  men.  He  walked  blindly  in 
the  midst  of  them,  until  unconsciously  knocking  up 


i36    NEW    LIGHT   ON   ANCIENT   EGYPT 

against  them,  and  hurting  them,  he  felt  the  effects  of 
their  anger.  He  had  then  to  seek  measures  either  for 
eliminating  them  from  his  path,  or  for  warding  off  their 
assaults,  or  for  verifying  their  presence,  and  for  that  pur- 
pose applied  to  the  science  of  prognostics,  to  divination, 
religion,  magic.  He  covered  himself  with  amulets,  he 
learned  formulas,  he  inquired  about  the  days  and  hours 
when  the  power  of  the  spirits  would  be  strongest,  and 
if  all  his  precautions  were  unavailing,  at  the  critical 
moment  he  shut  himself  up  at  home  to  be  out  of  reach 
of  their  attack.  The  calendar  I  have  described,  and 
others  like  it,  instructed  him  on  the  last  point,  and 
they  were  as  necessary  for  his  safe  guidance  among 
the  invisible  spirits  as  astronomical  or  religious  calen- 
dars are  for  the  proper  order  of  festivals  and  the  times 
of  work  in  town  or  country. 

All  this  seems  contemptible  to  us  now,  but  historians 
are  very  wrong  systematically  to  neglect  it.  The  two 
serpents  of  which  an  Ethiopian  king  dreamed  one  night, 
were  certainly  nothing  but  an  illusion  of  sleep  without 
real  consistence  or  meaning.  Yet  directly  the  priests 
of  Napata  declared  that  they  were  the  precursory  sign 
of  a  conquest  of  Egypt,  Egypt's  fate  was  sealed.  The 
Ethiopian  king  assembled  his  army,  set  out  for  the 
wars,  and,  as  he  thought  that  the  two  serpents  announced 
victory,  he  fought  so  well  that  he  won  the  day.  We 
could  quote  more  than  one  example  from  what  we 
have  deciphered  on  the  monuments  of  wars  and  con- 
quests, the  first  cause  of  which  is  as  futile  as  the  dream 
of  the  Ethiopian.  The  auguries,  the  presages,  the  con- 
junctions of  the  stars,  the  influences  of  lucky  or  unlucky 
days  have  decided  the  fate  of  nations,  and  directed  the 
progress  of  humanity  during  the  course  of  the  oldest 
history.  And  if  we  wish  to  understand  that  history, 
and  to  make  our  contemporaries  understand  it,  we  must 
reckon  with  these  superstitions. 


XVII 

THE  EGYPTIAN    '  BOOK   OF  THE   DEAD  ' 

THE  double  of  the  Egyptians  must  sometimes  have 
been  greatly  embarrassed  when,  after  having  undergone 
the  last  purifications,  and  received  the  last  votive  offer- 
ings, he  found  himself  alone  in  his  vault,  by  the  side 
of  his  corpse.  His  relatives  and  friends  on  the  earth 
above,  full  of  compassion  for  his  weakness,  and  of 
solicitude  for  his  well-being  in  the  future  life,  had 
heaped  up  around  him  all  sorts  of  gifts,  useful  and 
useless.  He  had  clothes,  and  stuifs  to  make  them  of, 
shoes,  wigs,  jewels,  perfumes,  weapons  for  war  and  for 
sport,  provisions  of  all  sorts  in  profusion,  more  things 
to  drink  than  he  knew  what  to  do  with,  even  servants 
obliged  to  wait  on  him,  boats  destined  to  carry  him  and 
his  servants  and  his  animals  and  his  baggage  along  the 
canals  of  the  other  world;  but  this  wealth  itself  was  a 
source  of  care  and  fear  to  him.  The  weariness  of  living 
eternally  in  the  tomb,  shut  in  by  the  thickness  of  the 
walls  and  by  virtue  of  the  funeral  incantations,  was  to 
die  a  second  death.  No  soul  hitherto  accustomed  to  the 
open  sunshine  and  the  fresh  north  breeze  would  be 
resigned  to  vegetate  for  ever  in  the  close  atmosphere  of 
two  or  three  permanently  sealed  chambers.  On  the 
other  hand,  it  was  a  difficult  road  which  led  through  the 
land  of  the  gods  to  the  banks  of  the  heavenly  Nile  on 
which  the  Boat  of  Ra  made  its  journeys,  or  to  the  innu- 
merable islands  where  the  good  Osiris  had  established 
her  paradise  of  lalou.  It  was  necessary  to  traverse  more 


138     NEW   LIGHT   ON   ANCIENT   EGYPT 

than  one  strange  country,  to  cross  streams  of  boiling 
water  and  deserts  infested  with  serpents,  to  fight  battles 
with  tribes  of  genii  and  gods  who  haunted  certain 
districts,  or  to  gain  their  good-will ;  it  was  a  long,  adven- 
turous voyage,  and  the  first  doubles  who  undertook  it 
without  a  guide,  or  a  guide-book,  had  their  work  cut 
out  to  reach  their  destination  safe  and  sound  with  their 
convoy  of  merchandise  and  terrified  attendants. 

How  did  the  survivors  come  to  know  this?  Directly 
they  were  informed,  they  tried  to  come  to  the  rescue  of 
their  dead  friends,  and,  as  they  had  a  personal  interest 
in  facilitating  the  migrations  of  the  doubles,  they  were 
quick  to  invent  efficient  methods.  They  noted  the  name 
and  the  situation  of  the  mystic  regions,  the  character, 
the  manners  of  the  beings  who  dwelt  in  them,  the  nature 
of  the  dangers  to  be  avoided.  Their  task  was  the  more 
complicated  as  paradises  were  numerous  in  Egypt, 
and  manifold  were  the  ways  that  led  to  each  one  of 
them.  It  was  necessary  to  give  information  of  all  pos- 
sible itineraries,  so  that  the  soul  might  be  in  a  position 
to  choose  its  last  sojourn,  and  to  reach  it  without  going 
astray.  When  a  halting-place  or  a  new  danger  was  dis- 
covered, a  special  chapter  was  devoted  to  it,  and  all  the 
chapters  put  together  soon  formed  several  works  of 
varying  lengths.  To  be  of  much  use  it  should  have  been 
committed  to  memory  by  believers  during  their  lifetime, 
in  order  that  they  might  be  ready  for  the  great  journey 
when  their  hour  was  come,  but  that  was  an  obligation 
from  which  they  preferred  to  be  dispensed.  To  obviate  the 
difficulties  entailed  by  such  negligence,  the  geography 
of  the  land  beyond  the  tomb  was  taught  after  death. 
One  of  the  priests,  who  dressed  the  corpse,  sang  in  his 
ears  the  pieces  of  which  one  or  other  of  the  compilations 
was  composed,  or  often,  even,  all  the  compilations,  one 
after  the  other.  The  double  retained  what  he  wished, 
and  took  from  it  the  information  useful  to  guide  him 


EGYPTIAN   'BOOK   OF   THE   DEAD*     139 

correctly  during  his  expedition.  It  seems  that  this  oral 
instruction  sufficed  for  the  generations  that  built  the 
Pyramids.  Later  it  was  doubtless  perceived  that  memory 
does  not  always  perfectly  serve  those  who  trust  to  it. 
The  double  had  not  heard  or  understood  properly,  it 
forgot  the  formulas,  mixed  them  up,  and  altering 
them,  falsified  their  meaning,  or  lessened  their  value. 
It  seemed  a  better  plan  to  give  them  the  texts  that  had 
hitherto  simply  been  recited  to  them,  written  down,  and 
the  most  important  were  traced  on  the  boards  of  the 
coffin,  on  the  sides  of  the  sarcophagus,  on  the  walls  of 
the  funerary  cha'mber,  lastly  on  a  papyrus  roll  placed 
near  the  mummy,  or  under  its  wrappings.  Copies  of 
the  Book  of  the  Dead  may  be  counted  to-day  by  the 
hundred;  the  smallest  European  museum  has  at  least 
a  fragment. 

It  has  been  several  times  translated  into  French, 
English,  and  German ;  one  of  the  most  distinguished 
Egyptologists,  Sir  Peter  Le  Page  Renouf,  was  issuing  a 
new  interpretation  of  it  when  death  interrupted  his  work 
in  October  1897.  Le  Page  Renouf  was  English,  in 
spite  of  the  French  form  of  his  name,  or  rather  he  was 
a  native  of  Guernsey,  one  of  those  Norman  islands 
which  have  given  England  so  many  good  servants.  A 
family  tradition  has  it  that  his  ancestor  was  a  page  of 
Duguesclin,  and  that  the  name  Le  Page  is  due  to  that 
ancestor's  function.  He  took  an  active  part  in  the  re- 
ligious controversies  of  the  middle  of  the  nineteenth 
century,  became  an  Inspector  of  Schools,  and  after- 
wards keeper  of  the  Egyptian  and  Assyrian  antiqui- 
ties in  the  British  Museum.  Like  so  many  others,  he 
scattered  his  work  among  the  reviews,  and  the  greater 
number  of  his  essays  have  disappeared ;  only  those  who 
have  had  the  patience  to  seek  out  their  hiding-places 
have  any  idea  of  what  Egyptology  owes  him.  His 
translation  is  accompanied  by  a  commentary,  in  which 


140     NEW   LIGHT    ON   ANCIENT   EGYPT 

the  chief  difficulties  of  the  text  are  pointed  out,  and 
the  mythological  allusions  briefly  explained.1  It  is 
the  clearest  of  those  which  we  possess,  but  in  these 
matters  clearness  is  relative.  The  larger  part  of  the 
prayers  collected  in  the  Book  of  the  Dead  contain 
allusions  to  facts  or  concepts  which  had  nothing  mys- 
terious about  them  when  they  were  written  down.  The 
various  legends  of  Osiris,  or  the  solar  myths,  were 
familiar  to  the  Egyptians  of  the  middle  class,  and  even 
the  common  people  knew  most  of  them,  if  not  in  detail, 
at  least  generally.  It  was  admitted,  for  instance,  that 
the  sun  changed  boats  during  the  day,  and  it  was  a 
commonplace  in  the  schools  that  one  was  called  Saktit, 
and  the  other  Mazit.  They  were  not  entirely  alike, 
either  in  equipment,  form,  decoration,  or  rigging;  each 
possessed  particular  properties,  and  offered  the  god  dif- 
ferent facilities  of  navigation.  The  Theban  or  Mem- 
phian,  learned  in  his  religion,  was  ignorant  of  nothing 
concerning  them,  and  their  name,  introduced  into  the 
text  in  this  or  that  place,  immediately  turned  his  mind 
to  a  series  of  known  events.  That  mythology  is  a  dead 
letter  for  us,  and  it  costs  us  much  toil  to  conjure  up 
ideas  and  images  that  the  words  Saktit  and  Mazit  at 
once  aroused  in  the  devout  Egyptian  of  ancient  days. 
We  require  hours  of  application  and  pages  of  com- 
mentary before  catching  even  a  vague  glimpse  of  what 
he  saw  clearly  on  a  cursory  reading.  Le  Page  Renouf's 
translation  is,  like  the  others,  only  accessible  to  the 
expert  Egyptologist;  without  previous  preparation  it 
would  merely  present  a  series  of  words  and  phrases 
without  apparent  meaning. 

The  chapters  are  numerous,  and  all  the  copies  do  not 
contain  the  same  number;  the  most  complete  papyri 
contain  from  150  to  180.  They  are  composed  of  a  title, 

1  Lepage- Renouf:  The  Book  of  the  Dead,  reprinted  from  the  Pro- 
ceedings of  the  Society  of  Biblical  Archceology,  Books  I -VI,  1890-97. 


EGYPTIAN  'BOOK  OF  THE  DEAD1  141 

which  sets  forth  the  object  of  the  prayer,  of  a  formula, 
which  is  the  prayer  itself,  of  a  vignette,  which  illustrates 
the  words  of  the  text  by  a  picture,  or  a  series  of  pictures ; 
sometimes  a  rubric  adds  instructions  to  the  dead  on  the 
manner  of  reciting  the  piece,  or  of  consecrating  an 
amulet  in  which  its  virtues  are  concentrated.  The  title 
and  the  vignette  are  usually  the  most  interesting  parts. 
The  title  sets  forth  the  purpose  which  originally  inspired 
its  composition ;  it  shows  the  ideas  of  the  Egyptians 
concerning  the  human  soul,  and  the  kind  of  existence 
that  awaited  it  beyond  the  tomb.  It  was  the  life  of  this 
world  transported  to  the  next,  with  all  its  pleasures  and 
all  its  troubles.  In  a  vignette  the  defunct  is  seen  leav- 
ing his  hypogeum  to  reach  the  sojourn  of  his  dreams. 
Staff  in  hand,  he  sets  foot  on  the  first  declivities  of  the 
western  mountain,  behind  which  the  lands  of  the  shades 
extend  infinitely.  He  reaches  the  boundary  of  the  real 
world,  and,  in  a  second  vignette,  we  assist  at  the  wel- 
come given  him  there.  A  sycamore,  with  thick  foliage 
laden  with  figs,  marks  the  frontier,  and  a  woman,  thrust- 
ing half  her  body  out  of  the  trunk,  offers  the  traveller 
a  tray  filled  with  loaves  and  fruit,  and  a  vase  full  of 
water.  If  he  refuses,  he  cannot  go  forward,  he  must 
go  back  and  return  to  this  world;  if  he  accepts,  the 
bread  and  water  make  him  the  vassal  of  the  gods,  and 
give  him  free  access  to  the  mysterious  plains.  He  is 
obliged  to  use  great  caution  in  walking,  to  keep  eyes 
open  and  ears  alert,  in  order  not  to  perish  by  a  second 
death,  which  would  leave  nothing  of  him  remaining. 
In  a  series  of  miniatures  we  see  him  fighting  with  lance 
or  dagger  against  serpents  of  various  sizes  and  various 
degrees  of  venom,  against  poisonous  insects,  against  a 
tortoise,  against  a  big  red  ass,  the  incarnation  of  the 
evil  spirit,  Set-Typhon.  Elsewhere  a  boat  appears  to 
take  him  to  one  of  the  domains  of  Osiris;  it  is  a  fairy 
boat,  and  asks  him  questions :  he  has  to  name  and 


142     NEW   LIGHT   ON   ANCIENT   EGYPT 

describe  in  detail  the  parts  of  which  the  boat  is  made. 
The  scene  is  realistically  portrayed,  the  double  standing 
on  the  bank,  the  hand  raised  in  a  supplicating  gesture, 
the  inquisitive  boat,  with  its  crew  of  divinities,  in  front 
of  him.  After  examining  these  pictures,  there  is  no 
longer  any  doubt  of  the  meaning  to  be  attached  to  the 
book  itself;  it  is  a  guide-book  and  manual  of  conversa- 
tion for  the  other  world,  for  the  use  of  souls  in  quest  of 
a  suitable  paradise. 

The  titles  and  vignettes,  then,  of  the  compilation 
explain  themselves,  but  difficulties  accumulate  as  soon 
as  we  have  crossed  that  threshold  and  try  to  penetrate 
the  formulas.  The  greater  part  of  them  are  the  actual 
speeches  pronounced  by  the  defunct  in  such  or  such 
circumstances  indicated  by  the  title.  The  infernal  ser- 
pents would  not  easily  have  succumbed  to  his  lance  had 
he  not  combined  the  power  of  magic  words  with  the 
action  of  his  arm.  The  orator  is  careful  not  to  mention 
that  he  is  a  human  double,  for  such  a  confession  would 
have  encouraged  his  adversary,  and  left  him  little  chance 
of  success.  He  exclaims  loudly  that  he  is  a  god,  several 
gods,  all  the  gods,  that  on  many  occasions  he  has 
massacred  redoubtable  enemies,  that  no  one  has  ever 
resisted  him.  If  the  oration  is  given  without  a  mistake, 
with  appropriate  tone  and  gesture,  the  effect  is  irresist- 
ible ;  it  acts  on  the  senses  of  the  serpent  like  an  incanta- 
tion, it  makes  him  believe  that  he  is  confronted  with  the 
personages  evoked,  and  not  with  a  double  trembling  with 
fear,  so  his  strength  leaves  him,  and  he  falls  after  more 
or  less  hard  fighting.  The  Egyptians  are  fond  of  talking ; 
many  of  the  chapters  are  fifty  lines  long,  and  to  recite 
them  in  accordance  with  the  proper  ceremony  would 
take  at  least  half-an-hour.  Some  became  almost  cele- 
brated as  soon  as  they  were  deciphered,  as,  for  instance, 
Chapter  125,  which  contains  what  Champollion  called 
the  Negative  Confession.  The  double,  taken  before  the 


EGYPTIAN   'BOOK    OF   THE   DEAD'     143 

Council  of  Osiris,  calls  each  of  the  councillors  to  wit- 
ness, and  swears  to  him  that  he  has  not  committed  any 
of  the  acts  blamed  by  custom  or  law ;  the  purity  of  the 
moral  teaching,  the  spirit  of  gentleness  and  charity 
with  which  his  words  are  imbued,  has  called  forth  the 
admiration  of  persons  least  inclined  to  become  enthusi- 
astic about  Egyptian  matters.  The  case  is,  unhappily, 
somewhat  unusual ;  mythological  allusions  predominate, 
and  make  the  reading  difficult  even  for  experts.  It  is 
not  that  the  thoughts  lack  elevation  or  poetry,  or  that 
the  form  is  without  literary  merit,  but  all  the  images 
and  concepts  that  the  Egyptians  put  into  it  belong  to 
an  order  of  ideas  so  foreign  to  ours  that  a  prolonged 
effort  is  required  before  we  can  enter  into  them.  When, 
after  careful  study,  we  succeed  in  discovering  the  pas- 
sages which  must  have  most  impressed  the  Egyptians, 
we  are  able  to  perceive  their  beauty  although  we  still 
despair  of  making  others  feel  what  we  have  learned  to 
feel ;  the  amount  of  detailed  explanation  required  makes 
too  great  a  demand  on  the  attention. 


XVIII 

EGYPTIAN  ANIMATED  STATUES 

THE  Egyptians,  high  and  low,  did  nothing  without 
consulting  the  gods.  Whether  it  was  a  journey  to  be 
undertaken  by  an  ordinary  individual,  or  a  fleet  to  be 
dispatched  by  a  queen  to  the  shores  of  the  Indian  Ocean, 
both  citizen  and  sovereign  would  repair  to  the  temple  to 
receive  the  advice  of  the  divinity,  and  his  reply  in- 
fluenced their  final  decision.  The  ceremonial  was  not 
the  same  in  both  cases  :  the  man  of  the  people  explained 
his  business  to  the  priest,  who  put  him  into  relation  with 
the  god  and  obtained  a  decision  for  him ;  the  Pharaoh, 
himself  a  god  and  the  son  of  a  god,  addressed  his  divine 
father  or  brother  without  a  go-between.  But  whatever 
the  rite  or  the  ceremony,  the  deed  and  the  result  were 
identical  in  both  cases.  The  god  represented  by  his 
image,  heard  the  request,  indicated  his  advice  by  some 
means  or  other,  and  the  believer  acted  in  accordance  with 
the  expression  of  the  supposed  superhuman  will. 

The  methods  used  by  Amon,  or  Phtah,  or  Osiris,  or 
indeed  any  of  the  divinities  worshipped  in  the  temples, 
for  commanding  or  advising  their  believers  were  in- 
finitely varied;  they  sent  prophetic  dreams,  they  spoke 
in  a  mysterious  voice,  they  revealed  themselves  by  differ- 
ent sounds,  by  actions,  by  signs,  and  what  had  at  first 
been  a  spontaneous  manifestation  on  their  part,  their 
servants  here  below,  the  priests  and  magicians,  learned 
to  obtain  by  certain  practices  of  unfailing  effect.  Their 

statues  especially  were  privileged  to  give  the  answers 

144 


EGYPTIAN   ANIMATED   STATUES       145 

asked  of  them,  not  any  sort  of  statue,  but  idols  made 
and  prepared  expressly  for  that  duty.  To  my  knowledge 
we  do  not  possess  any  specimen  of  them ;  as  far  as  we 
can  conjecture,  they  were  most  often  of  wood,  painted 
or  gilded  like  the  ordinary  statues,  but  made  of  jointed 
pieces  which  could  be  moved.  The  arm  could  lift  itself 
as  high  as  the  shoulder  or  elbow,  so  that  the  hand  could 
place  itself  on  an  object  and  hold  it  or  let  it  go.  The 
head  moved  on  the  neck,  it  bent  back  and  fell  again  to 
its  place.  The  legs  do  not  seem  to  have  been  jointed, 
and  it  is  improbable  that  the  complicated  business  of 
walking  was  exacted  of  them.  The  statue,  now  finished 
in  the  image  of  the  divinity  for  whom  it  provided  cor- 
poreal form,  had  to  be  animated;  the  being  of  whom  it 
was  the  portrait  was  evoked  for  that  purpose,  and  by 
means  of  operations  still  imperfectly  known  a  portion 
of  himself  was  projected  into  the  wood,  a  soul,  a 
double,  a  power  which  never  more  left  it.  In  this  way 
terrestrial  gods  were  constructed,  exact  counterparts  of 
the  celestial  gods,  their  ambassadors  on  earth,  as  it  were, 
capable  of  protecting,  punishing,  and  teaching  mankind, 
of  sending  them  dreams,  of  speaking  an  oracle.  When 
they  were  addressed,  they  had  recourse  to  one  of  two 
methods,  gesture  or  voice.  They  took  up  the  word,  and 
pronounced  the  verdict  suitable  to  the  business  in  hand 
either  in  a  few  words  or  in  a  long  speech.  They  moved 
arms  and  head  to  an  invariable  rhythm.  It  was  not 
considered  miraculous,  it  was  part  of  everyday  life,  and 
consultation  of  the  gods  belonged  to  the  usual  functions 
of  the  chiefs  of  the  state,  kings  or  queens.  The  monu- 
ments present  numberless  examples,  in  the  great  Theban 
epoch  and  in  the  time  that  followed  it. 

Here  is  one  of  the  most  ancient,  and  I  quote  it  first, 

because  the  god  speaks  directly.     The  queen  Hatshop- 

souitou  contemplated  the  dispatch  of  a  squadron  to  the 

regions  that  produce  sweet  spices,  but  the  voyage  was 

10 


146     NEW   LIGHT    ON   ANCIENT   EGYPT 

long  and  dangerous,  the  route  ill  defined,  the  situation 
of  the  incense  districts  uncertain,  and  she  hesitated  to 
enter  on  an  adventure  of  so  doubtful  an  issue.  So  one 
day  she  repaired  to  the  Temple  of  Karnak,  and  confided 
her  anxiety  to  her  lord  Amonra,  the  patron  of  her  race. 
"  When  the  sovereign  had  poured  out  her  supplications 
before  the  master  of  Karnak,  a  command  was  heard  in 
the  holy  place,  a  counsel  of  the  god  himself,  to  explore 
the  ways  that  lead  to  Pouanit  and  to  traverse  the  roads 
that  lead  to  the  Ports  of  Incense;  and  on  their  return  to 
bring  the  products  of  that  Divine  Land  to  the  god  who  had 
modelled  the  beauties  of  the  queen."  Thus  encouraged 
she  dispatched  six  vessels  on  a  voyage  of  discovery,  and 
when  they  returned  laden  with  sweet  spices,  the  god 
thanked  them  with  more  speeches,  the  tenor  of  which 
may  be  read  on  one  of  the  walls  of  the  temple  of  Deir  El- 
Bahari.1  Conversations  between  gods  and  kings  were 
not  rare  in  the  temples,  and  it  is  not  without  reason 
that  most  of  the  legends  that  accompany  the  pictures 
engraved  on  the  walls  are  in  dialogue  form ;  the  decora- 
tive custom  corresponded  to  an  almost  everyday  reality. 
In  other  cases  the  statue  was  silent,  and  indicated  its 
opinion  by  a  gesture;  it  nodded  its  head  twice  emphatic- 
ally to  say  yes.  One  of  the  most  curious  of  these  pieces, 
found  in  the  Temple  of  Khonsou  at  Thebes,  tells  how  a 
Syrian  princess,  sister-in-law  of  Ramses  II,  fell  ill,  and 
was  for  a  long  while  possessed  by  a  demon  or  by  the  soul 
of  a  dead  person.  As  the  Asiatic  magicians  did  not  suc- 
ceed in  freeing  her  from  the  spirit,  her  father  insisted  that 
his  son-in-law  should  apply  to  the  cleverest  exerciser  in 
Egypt.  But  that  personage  did  not  consider  himself 
strong  enough  to  struggle  with  the  evil  spirit,  and  so 
recourse  was  had  to  a  more  efficacious  intervention,  to 
that  of  Khonsou  himself.  Ramses  went  to  the  temple, 
and  addressed  the  statue :  "  Dear  Lord,  behold  me  here 
1  C£  Chapter  VIII. 


THE  GOD  KHONSOU,  HEAD  OF  A  STATUE  FOUND  IN  THE  TEMPLE  OF  KHONSOU,  AT  KARNAK.. 
pci^e  146. 


EGYPTIAN   ANIMATED   STATUES       147 

before  thee  for  the  sake  of  the  daughter  of  the  prince  of 
Bakhtan."  Then  he  ordered  the  image  which  drove  out 
evil  spirits  to  be  brought,  and  placing  it  in  front  of  the 
other  said :  "  Dear  Lord,  if  thou  wilt  deign  to  turn  thy 
face  towards  this  statue,  made  after  thy  image  and  which 
drives  out  evil  spirits,  we  may  venture  to  send  it  to 
Bakhtan."  And  again  Khonsou  nodded  his  head  em- 
phatically twice.  Then  Ramses  replied:  "Endow  it 
with  thy  power  so  that  I  may  send  it  to  Bakhtan  to 
relieve  the  daughter  of  the  prince."  And  again 
Khonsou  nodded  his  head  emphatically  twice.  His 
consent  gained,  the  transference  of  the  effluvium  which 
permitted  the  statue  to  do  its  work  had  to  be  effected. 

The  ceremony  was  quite  simple.  The  person  or  ob- 
ject to  be  thus  treated  was  placed,  kneeling,  crouching 
or  upright  as  circumstance  demanded,  the  back  towards 
the  object  or  person  who  was  to  treat  them.  After  a 
few  formalities  the  statue  or  the  person  raised  his  hand, 
and  made  several  passes  over  the  back  of  the  other's 
neck.  The  effluvium  flowed  into  the  recipiendary,  who 
kept  it  until  having  himself  put  his  hands  on  the  person 
to  be  cured,  he  suddenly  found  himself,  as  it  were, 
empty.  And,  in  fact,  Khonsou  arrived  at  Bakhtan, 
made  the  passes  over  the  princess,  and  the  divine  power 
expelled  the  demon,  after  a  short  interview  with  him  and 
with  the  priest. 

It  is  clear  that  the  statues  really  spoke  in  a  loud  and 
intelligible  voice;  they  actually  moved  their  heads  and 
hands,  and  as  they  certainly  did  not  do  these  things  of 
themselves,  some  one  had  to  do  it  for  them.  The  Temple 
had,  in  fact,  a  priest  or  a  class  of  priests  whose  duty  it 
was  to  do  these  things.  Their  function  was  not  secret, 
they  performed  it  openly  in  the  sight  and  with  the 
knowledge  of  all.  They  had  their  appointed  place  in 
the  ceremonies  and  processions,  and  in  the  sacerdotal 
hierarchy,  and  all  the  people  knew  that  the  voice  or 


148     NEW   LIGHT   ON   ANCIENT   EGYPT 

hand  of  the  god  was  theirs,  and  that  they  pulled  the 
wires  so  that  he  nodded  his  head  at  the  right  moment. 
It  was  none  of  those  pious  frauds  such  as  we  generally 
suspect  in  like  circumstances.  Every  one  knew  that  the 
divine  consultation  was  accomplished  by  this  purely 
human  intervention.  Such  being  the  case,  we  may  ask 
how,  not  only  the  people,  but  the  scribes,  the  nobles, 
and  the  kings  could  put  confidence  in  such  counsels. 
And  if  in  later  times,  at  least,  it  became  a  ceremony  of 
tradition,  kept  up  out  of  respect  for  antiquity,  but  to 
which  no  importance  was  any  longer  attached,  the 
testimony  of  the  monuments  compels  us  to  acknowledge 
that  it  was  regarded  seriously  until  the  decay  of  pagan- 
ism, and  that  all  who  took  part  in  it  were  filled  with 
respect  for  the  task  they  undertook.  They  were  brought 
up  from  childhood  to  believe  that  divine  souls  gave  life 
to  the  statues,  and  to  approach  them  with  emotion  and 
reverential  fear.  Each  time  that  a  believer  needed  their 
services,  they  prepared  themselves  by  prayers  and 
ceremonies  that  reminded  them  of  the  seriousness  of  an 
act,  the  power  of  which  they  believed  was  absolute. 
Their  condition  of  mind  was  akin  to  that  in  which  the 
modern  priest  goes  up  to  the  altar.  Directly  he  has 
put  on  the  sacerdotal  robes,  and  recited  the  first  sacra- 
mental words,  he  no  longer  belongs  to  himself  but  to 
the  sacrifice  he  is  going  to  consummate,  he  knows 
that  the  elements  will  change  into  the  precious  flesh  and 
blood  at  his  voice  and  gesture,  and  enters  on  the  work 
he  is  sure  of  accomplishing  without  any  doubts.  With 
certain  reservations  it  was  just  the  same  in  Egypt. 
When  the  prophet  had  finished  his  preparations,  and 
stood  near  the  statue  ready  to  raise  his  voice  for  it  and 
make  it  move,  he  did  not  doubt  for  an  instant  that  the 
god  would  enter  into  him,  seize  him,  inspire  him;  he 
thought  that  a  force  would  lay  hold  of  his  being,  and 
dictate  the  words  and  move  his  hand.  I  admit  the 


EGYPTIAN   ANIMATED   STATUES       149 

possibility  that  fraud  may  sometimes  have  had  a  part 
in  his  actions,  but  could  it  not  be  said  that  the  god, 
foreknowing  all,  so  arranged  things  that  the  fault  of  his 
servant  would  favour  his  designs?  The  prevaricating 
priest,  thinking  to  force  the  divine  purpose  and  to  de- 
ceive the  believer,  was  a  victim  of  his  own  manoeuvre, 
and  only  declared  what  Amon  wished  him  to  declare. 

The  gods,  then,  directly  governed  the  life  of  the 
Egyptians  and  the  policy  of  their  kings.  They  had 
their  appointed  place  in  the  deliberations,  and  their 
decrees  might  seldom  be  disregarded.  Such  intervention, 
which  wre  should  find  very  tiresome,  was  not  so  regarded 
by  any  of  the  nations  of  antiquity,  and  we  find  it  per- 
petually in  Assyria  and  Chaldasa.  The  kings  of 
Nineveh  addressed  themselves  to  Ishtar  of  Arbeles,  or 
Adad  or  Shamash,  and  we  possess  a  series  of  their  con- 
sultations on  a  number  of  questions  relating  to  the 
domestic  or  foreign  affairs  of  the  empire  under  Asarhad- 
don  and  Assourbanabal.  In  short,  the  gods  ruled  the 
ancient  world,  and  its  contemporaries  were  not  far 
wrong  when  they  doubled  every  war  between  men  with 
a  second  war  between  the  gods.  The  prophetic  statues 
spoke  for  both  sides  when  the  armies  came  to  close 
quarters,  and  their  commands  did  not  cease  to  arrive 
direct  as  long  as  the  campaign  lasted.  It  was  indeed 
themselves  who  were  conquered  if  the  fortunes  of  war 
went  against  their  nation,  and  they  shared  its  fate. 
When  the  victor  did  not  kill  them  in  conquering  them, 
he  took  them  prisoners,  and  placed  them  in  the  Temples 
of  their  adversaries  to  serve  as  slaves  as  much  as  by 
way  of  trophies.  If  perchance  they  were  later  restored 
to  their  former  owners,  an  inscription  was  carefully 
engraved  on  them  commemorating  their  defeat  and 
captivity. 


XIX 

WHAT  THE  EGYPTIANS   SCRIBBLED   ON  THEIR   WALLS 

IT  is  certain  that  tourists  are  gradually  spoiling  the 
monuments  of  Egypt  by  writing  their  names  on  them 
in  big  or  small  letters.  Persons  of  taste  are  irritated 
when  they  come  across  them,  and  the  directors  of  the 
antiquities  exhaust  themselves  in  searching  for  hard 
words  in  which  to  censure  such  practices  in  their  reports. 
It  is  their  strict  duty  to  do  this,  and  I,  like  the  rest,  have 
done  my  share.  And  yet,  if  the  archaeologists  and  his- 
torians of  to-day  would  reflect  a  little,  what  fine  fellows 
these  inscription-makers  are,  and  what  an  amount  of  in- 
genious work  they  are  preparing  for  the  students  of  the 
future !  Henri  Durand  of  Paris  inscribed  his  name  in 
1882  on  one  of  the  blocks  of  the  Great  Pyramid.  John 
Brown  cut  his  in  the  neighbourhood  in  1883,  Fritz  Miiller 
scrawled  his  above  the  other  two  in  1884,  and  they  may 
be  tracked  from  Gizeh  to  the  First  Cataract  through  the 
temples  and  tombs ;  towards  the  end  of  the  journey  they 
become  bolder,  and  each  ventures  on  admiring  or  humor- 
ous reflections  in  accordance  with  the  spirit  of  his  nation. 
They  are  too  near  us  to  seem  anything  but  absurd,  but 
let  a  hundred  years  pass  by,  and  distance  will  endow 
them  with  a  certain  prestige.  A  century  ago,  French 
soldiers  quartered  at  Edfou,  in  the  dark  chambers  of  the 
Pylon,  amused  themselves  by  tracing  legends  and  draw- 
ings on  the  wall.  Names,  dates,  hearts  burning  with 
protestations  of  affection  for  their  native  land,  a  fine 
windmill  that  still  exists,  perhaps,  in  some  corner  of 

150 


..  • 


SCRIBBLINGS   ON    WALLS  151 

France  are  to  be  seen;  the  cavalry  fraternized  with  the 
infantry  in  its  love  of  the  native  soil  and  its  contempt  for 
grammar,  but  I  do  not  know  which  of  the  two  arms  pro- 
claimed in  its  pride,  the  French  are  conquerors  every- 
where. It  is  a  piece  of  France  which  still*  lives  in  the 
shade  of  the  old  temple  of  Horus,  light  cavalry,  grena- 
diers, light  infantry,  a  hundred  or  a  hundred  and  fifty 
men  in  all,  and  a  very  slight  effort  of  the  imagination 
suffices  to  see  them  in  the  course  of  their  monotonous 
life.  Drill,  continual  sentry  duty  at  the  top  of  the  two 
towers  that  guard  the  Nile,  or  the  outlets  into  the  Libyan 
desert,  reconnoitring  in  the  still  insubordinate  villages 
in  order  to  reach  the  posts  of  Esneh  or  Daraou,  skirm- 
ishes, and  perchance  a  comrade  mournfully  buried  in  the 
little  cemetery  on  the  north  side  of  the  town ;  in  the  inter- 
vals, without  forgetting  the  girls  of  France,  they  courted 
the  girls  of  Egypt  who,  judging  by  certain  features  of 
European  physiognomy  to  be  seen  among  the  inhabit- 
ants, were  not  indifferent  to  their  affection.  Menou  forgot 
them  when  he  evacuated  the  Said  in  1800;  they  stayed 
at  their  post,  in  spite  of  assaults,  for  a  few  months  until 
a  Bey  rescued  them  and  enrolled  them  in  his  service. 
They  then  formed  the  largest  contingent  of  the  French 
Mamelukes  who  played  an  important  part  in  the  early 
wars  of  Mehemet  Ali. 

The  Egyptians  of  Pharaoh  travelled  at  times,  and,  like 
Cook's  tourists,  scribbled  with  all  their  might  and  main 
on  the  monuments  they  came  across.  The  pyramid  of 
Meydoum  had  so  stoutly  resisted  the  excavators,  even 
Mariette,  that  it  was  thought  to  be  untouched,  and 
great  things  were  expected  of  it.  When  I  entered  it  in 
1881,  the  first  thing  I  saw  was  a  scribe's  name,  the  scribe 
Sokari,  written  in  ink  on  the  ledge  of  the  door,  and  by 
its  side  mention  of  his  colleague,  Amonmosou.  They 
scribbled  under  the  XVIIIth  Dynasty,  more  than  2000 
years  after  the  pyramid  was  built,  and  they  went  to  see 


152     NEW   LIGHT   ON   ANCIENT  EGYPT 

the  tomb  of  King  Snofroui  just  as  we  visit  that  of 
Charlemagne  at  Aix-la-Chapelle.  They  penetrated  into 
the  corridors  that  led  to  the  vault,  a  thing  seldom 
done;  it  meant  a  difficult  climb  up  the  north  side  of  the 
pyramid  to  reach  the  opening,  and  many  hesitated  to 
risk  their  necks.  They  stayed  at  the  foot  of  the  pile,  in 
the  little  chapel  where  the  worship  of  the  Pharaoh  had 
formerly  been  celebrated,  and  as  they  were  not  out  of 
breath  with  climbing,  or  thinking  of  the  chances  of  acci- 
dent offered  by  a  perpendicular  descent,  there  was 
nothing  to  prevent  them  writing  their  names  in  a  pro- 
minent place;  they  conjured  up  their  classical  memories, 
and  engrossed  an  enthusiastic  formula  on  one  of  the 
blocks.  The  son  of  the  same  Amonmosou  who  so  briefly 
announced  his  arrival,  as  shown  above,  was  more  elo- 
quent than  his  father,  and  told  in  diffuse  language  how 
in  the  year  XLI  of  Thoutmosis  III,  "he  went  to  see  the 
beautiful  chapel  of  Snofroui.  He  discovered  the  interior 
to  be  like  the  sky  when  Ra,  the  Sun,  rose,  and  he 
exclaimed,  '  the  heavens  rain  myrrh  and  so  an  incense 
falls  on  the  front  of  Snofroui's  chapel.'  "  And  as  if  such 
noble  poetry  would  not  have  been  acceptable  to  the  soul 
of  the  sovereign  without  the  addition  of  some  substantial 
wish,  he  addressed  himself  to  future  generations  and 
asked  them  to  pray  for  him.  "  All  of  you  who  pass  by 
here  and  read  these  words,  whether  you  be  scribes, 
magicians  or  priests,  if  you  love  life  and  desire  the  praise 
of  the  gods  of  your  towns,  and  to  transmit  your  offices 
to  your  children,  and  then  to  be  buried  in  the  necropolis 
of  Memphis  in  old  age,  after  a  long  sojourn  on  earth, 
say  :  '  Offerings  to  Osiris,  Ra,  Amon,  Anubis,  that  these 
gods  may  grant  all  imaginable  provisions  to  the  spirit  of 
King  Snofroui  and  Queen  Marisonkhis  his  wife.' '  He 
was  succeeded  later  by  others  who,  finding  his  prose  to 
their  taste,  appropriated  pieces  of  it,  and  recopied  on 
their  own  account  what  he  had  said  on  his. 


SCRIBBLINGS   ON    WALLS  153 

Those  old  travellers  were  not  morel  critical  or  discerning 
in  the  objects  of  their  admiration  than  our  tourists  are. 
They  went  into  ecstasies  over  everything  shown  them 
provided  it  was  very  old,  and  if  they  deciphered  the  texts 
engraved  on  the  tombs,  they  did  not  understand  them 
properly.  One  of  the  feudal  nobles  buried  at  Beni- 
Hassan  told  that  he  had  governed  a  town,  the  name  of 
which,  exactly  translated  into  English,  is  the  Nurse- 
Cheops.  Had  it  been  destroyed  since  his  time  ?  At  any 
rate  it  was  no  longer  known  under  the  XVIIIth  Dynasty, 
and  the  scribes  who  then  climbed  up  to  the  hypogeum 
had  never  heard  it  mentioned.  Seeing  the  name  of 
Cheops  in  several  places,  they  concluded  that  the  paint- 
ings had  been  made  for  that  king,  and  that  they  were  in 
his  house,  in  his  syringe,  and  then  they  recorded  their 
opinion  in  a  half-dozen  ecstatic  scrawls:  "Here  came 
the  scribe  Thoutii,"  or  the  scribe  Amonmosou,  or  the 
scribe  Rai.  "  When  I  came  to  view  the  beautiful  chapel 
of  Cheops,  I  found  its  interior  like  the  heavens,  when  the 
sun  rises  and  well  provided  with  fresh  incense."  They 
fall  into  error  with  much  ease,  their  appreciation  is 
monotonous,  and  many  of  them  are  content  merely  to 
testify  in  five  or  six  words  that  they  had  been  there. 
Others,  however,  are  kind  enough  to  confide  to  us  under 
what  king  they  honoured  the  monument  with  their 
presence,  in  what  year,  under  what  circumstances,  and 
their  vanity  has  made  them  the  unconscious  auxiliaries 
of  learning.  It  was  in  the  year  XL  of  such  a  sovereign, 
just  when  his  Majesty  was  sailing  from  Memphis  to 
Thebes  to  inaugurate  a  temple,  or  when  he  returned 
from  his  third  campaign  in  Ethiopia,  and  the  king,  and 
his  buildings,  and  his  journeys,  and  his  victories  would 
be  unknown  to  us  if  one  of  the  scribes  of  the  escort  had 
not  been  seized  with  the  passionate  desire  of  writing  at 
the  sight  of  a  wall  placed  well  in  the  public  view.  Thou- 
sands of  others  were  victims  of  a  like  mania  during 


154     NEW   LIGHT    ON   ANCIENT   EGYPT 

centuries,  and  thanks  to  them  we  glean  dates,  facts,  royal 
cartouches  everywhere ;  dynasties  are  put  together  again 
with  what  they  teach  us;  piece  by  piece  the  history  of 
Egypt  is  built  up.  They  also  add  details  about  their 
own  family,  their  own  particular  destiny,  the  reason  of 
their  going  there,  and  that  reason  is  often  very  extra- 
ordinary. The  Egyptians  prided  themselves  on  being 
consummate  magicians,  and  then,  as  now,  the  ceme- 
teries, especially  those  which  were  deserted,  were  the 
places  best  suited  to  the  sorcerers'  operations.  Aban- 
doned spirits,  who  died  of  hunger  in  their  tombs,  were 
inclined  to  assist  the  works  of  magic  which  might  pro- 
cure them  food.  The  pyramids  themselves  served  as  a 
refuge  for  good  or  evil  beings,  and  a  rite  performed  at 
the  due  hour,  with  the  necessary  words,  would  make 
them  for  a  brief  space  subservient  to  the  desires  of  the 
operator. 

In  the  year  L  of  Ramses  II,  the  scribe  Panoua,  who 
lived  at  Memphis  or  in  the  environs,  went  one  night  to 
the  tomb  of  a  certain  Shopsisouphtah,  who  had  flourished 
twenty  centuries  before  and  in  his  time  had  possessed 
the  reputation  of  great  skill  in  supernatural  matters.  He 
brought  the  suitable  books  of  magic,  arid,  taking  up  his 
position  in  the  chapel,  set  himself  to  perform  the 
ceremonies  for  evoking  the  spirits.  If  everything  went 
well  an  enormous  serpent  would  appear  to  him,  the 
serpent  which  hides  itself  in  the  pyramid  of  the  Pharaoh 
Sahouri,  and  in  the  form  of  which  the  soul  of  the  king 
was  pleased  to  reveal  itself.  Panoua  wished  to  inquire  of 
him  for  a  recipe  which  would  prolong  his  earthly  exist- 
ence to  the  age  of  no,  an  age  that  no  mortal  had  been 
able  to  go  beyond.  The  prayers  were  powerful,  for  they 
were  taken  from  books  compiled  by  the  god  Phtah  him- 
self, but  doubtless  the  time  was  unfavourable;  he  went 
on  to  the  eleventh  incantation  without  success,  then  grew 
discouraged  and  returned  home,  but  before  leaving,  in- 


SCRIBBLINGS   ON    WALLS  155 

scribed  on  the  wall  in  a  beautiful  running  hand  an  exact 
account  of  the  unfruitful  seance.  Elsewhere,  sick  per- 
sons, after  consulting  an  oracle,  scribbled  a  compliment 
to  the  god  or  goddess  who  healed  them  in  miraculous 
fashion,  on  a  neighbouring  rock  or  on  a  wall  of  the 
chapel.  One  believer  uttered  a  cry  of  anguish  to  his 
patron  :  "  Do  not  desert  me,  Oh  Ra-Harmakhis !"  and 
signed  himself,  "  the  scribe  Thoutmosis  of  the  Necro- 
polis." An  employe"  in  the  canals  and  irrigation  depart- 
ment registered  the  beginning  of  the  rise,  or  the  day  the 
dykes  were  broken  :  "  The  year  X,  the  i3th  of  the  second 
month  of  summer,  that  day  there  was  a  great  rising  of 
the  Nile."  Contented  persons  had  nothing  but  praise 
for  their  superiors  or  equals,  and  confided  their  feelings 
to  the  walls.  Discontented  persons  acted  in  the  same 
way,  and  so  we  now  possess  some  of  the  satires  in  which 
their  ill-humour  found  vent.  The  archivist  Phtahshadou 
has  forgotten  to  tell  us  his  master's  misdeeds;  he  was 
contented  to  write  a  couplet  on  the  rock  at  Thebes  in 
which  he  vigorously  lashed  his  chief.  "  My  master's 
order,  it  is  a  crocodile.  Its  tooth  is  in  the  water,  but 
where  ?  Its  teeth  are  in  the  canal  on  the  west,  and  its  eye 
winks."  It  seems  to  have  been  considered  most  extremely 
comic,  and  three-quarters  of  the  inhabitants  of  Thebes 
were  suffocated  with  laughter  for  weeks,  but  the  flavour  of 
the  gibe  has  evaporated,  and  many  annotations  are 
needed  to  recall  it.  It  must  first  be  remembered  that  the 
crocodile  is  a  treacherous  animal  that  keeps  in  muddy 
water  in  the  canal  all  day,  pretending  to  be  asleep  in  order 
not  to  alarm  his  prey;  the  paintings  in  the  tombs  show 
him  stretched  out  in  a  meditative  attitude,  his  tail  quiet, 
his  mouth  shut,  with  an  innocent  air  as  if  he  was  only 
a  big,  harmless  leopard.  At  the  moment  when  it  is  least 
expected,  a  turn  of  the  tail,  two  bites  of  the  teeth,  a 
plunge,  and  a  sheep,  a  dog,  a  man  has  disappeared. 
Phtahshadou  received  an  order  of  harmless  aspect  but 


156    NEW   LIGHT   ON   ANCIENT   EGYPT 

dangerous  to  carry  out,  and  he  compared  it  to  the 
felonious  crocodile,  but  he  did  not  know  where  the  danger 
would  come  in;  he  only  guessed  that  he  risked  his  life, 
and  therefore  he  spoke  of  the  canal  which  was  on  the 
west  and  which  had  to  be  crossed  in  order  to  reach  the 
tomb.  That  is  the  explanation,  but  even  so,  many  of  us 
will  not  perceive  the  humour  of  the  piece  any  more  than 
we  did  before.  How  many  centuries  will  be  needed 
before  the  satires  of  to-day  will  require  an  archaeological 
commentary,  and  throw  those  who  still  believe  in  the 
tradition  of  French  wit  into  wondering  astonishment? 

A  German,  Spiegelberg,  a  careful  student  and  com- 
mentator of  these  inscriptions,  like  all  of  his  race,  has 
collected  several  thousands  of  them  at  Thebes  alone,  and 
has  not  exhausted  the  material.  The  more  he  transcribes, 
the  more  he  discovers.  I  do  not  complain,  for  these 
scratchings  tell  us  new  things  about  the  old  Egyptian 
people,  so  long  buried,  so  lately  exhumed.  How,  then, 
can  we  continue  to  blame  the  European  tourists  who 
disfigure  the  walls,  when  we  copy  and  study  with  such 
tender  care  the  slightest  scribblings  of  their  ancient 
predecessors  ? 


XX 

EGYPTIAN   LOVE   POETRY 

WHEN  we  look  at  a  mummy  in  the  Turin,  or  any  other 
European  museum,  and  see  a  packet  of  dry  bones 
barely  covered  with  a  brown  skin,  and  features  con- 
tracted by  the  embalmment  into  a  sad  or  grotesque 
grimace,  some  imagination  is  required  to  restore  the 
elegant,  slender  girl,  whose  subtle  charms  intoxicated 
the  young  gallants  of  Thebes  during  her  youth,  or  even 
the  old  woman,  deformed  and  faded,  who,  dreaming  in 
the  evening  by  candle-light  of  her  former  lovers,  croons, 
in  low  tones,  the  love-songs  of  her  youth.  Go  into 
another  room  of  the  museum,  and  ask  for  the  case  of 
papyri  to  be  opened;  there  you  will  find  a  collection 
of  these  songs,  mutilated,  stained,  full  of  lacunae,  but 
sufficiently  legible  in  many  places  for  long  fragments 
to  be  authoritatively  translated,  and  to  inform  us  how 
passion  was  expressed  amongst  a  people  destined  to 
end  as  numbered  exhibits  in  the  glass  cases  of  our 
museums.  The  remains  were  collected  and  translated 
first  by  Goodwin,1  then  by  myself;2  they  have  just 
been  studied  for  a  third  time  by  Max  Miiller,  a  German 
scholar  settled  in  America.3  The  translation  is  well 
done,  and  the  commentary  clear,  if  occasionally  too  exotic 
in  expression;  the  work  is  one  of  those  which  may  be 
read  with  interest  by  persons  who  are  not  experts,  and  if 

1  Goodwin  :  "  The  Papyrus  Harris,"  No.  400,  in  the  Transactions  of 
the  Society  of  Biblical  Archeology,  Vol.  iy,  pp.  380-388. 

2  Maspero  :  Etudes  Egyptiennes,  Vol.  i,  pp.  216-259. 

3  Max  Miiller  :  Die  Liebespoesie  der  Alien  dZgypter,  Leipzig,  1899. 

*57 


158     NEW   LIGHT   ON   ANCIENT   EGYPT 

it  contains  doubtful  passages  which  invite  discussion  by 
Egyptologists,  the  whole  gives  a  faithful  rendering  of 
the  style  of  the  original. 

Love  poems  must  have  been  very  numerous  in 
Egyptian  literature.  We  already  possess  more  or  less  con- 
siderable fragments  of  three  collections  written  during 
the  second  Theban  epoch,  about  the  thirteenth  century 
B.C.,  and  fragments  of  other  pieces  have  been  found  even 
on  funerary  stelse.  It  is  certain  that  a  portion  at  least  of 
the  little  pieces  then  collected  by  the  scribes  were  of  much 
earlier  date,  and  had  long  been  orally  current.  They 
formed  a  common  reserve  in  which  lovers  dipped  at 
will,  and  on  which  each  embroidered  themes  in  accord- 
ance with  his  special  needs.  The  musicians  recited 
them  to  the  accompaniment  of  the  theorbo,  harp  or  lute, 
in  private  houses  or  in  the  streets,  just  as  the  singers 
and  almehs  of  our  day  make  Arab  verses  in  Cairo,  or  in 
Upper  Egypt.  If  any  one  who  has  lived  in  districts  in 
which  European  influence  is  not  too  predominant,  will 
carry  his  present  experiences  back  a  thousand  years,  he 
will  be  easily  able  to  reconstruct  those  ancient  concerts. 
In  the  paintings  of  the  Theban  hypogeums  we  see  the 
executants  with  their  dress,  their  instruments,  their 
gestures,  their  audience.  The  manuscripts  of  our 
museums  suggest  the  ideas  and  words  which  animated 
the  picture.  The  effect  produced  on  the  audience  was 
doubtless  similar  to  those  described  in  so  curious  a 
manner  in  the  Arabian  Nights.  The  minstrel  revelled 
in  prolonged  roulades  and  strange  conceits,  he  sighed 
during  the  tender  passages,  he  wept  or  sobbed  when  the 
hero  or  heroine  sang  of  their  despair,  and  he  accentuated 
the  intensity  of  his  different  feelings  by  suppressed  gut- 
tural exclamations  still  affected  by  the  artist  of  to-day. 
I  have  sometimes  tried  to  adapt  one  or  other  of  the  old 
pieces  to  the  Arab  melodies  heard  on  the  Nile,  often  with 
success.  We  can  imagine  that  the  old  airs,  now  lost, 


EGYPTIAN   LOVE   POETRY  159 

were  modulated  in  the  same  way  as  modern  ones,  accom- 
panied by  arpeggios  on  stringed  instruments,  or  by  the 
simultaneous  beating  of  tambourines. 

The  motives  employed  in  the  three  collections  are 
identical  with  those  of  the  Arabs,  and  some  have  a 
modern  appearance.  It  is  now  the  lover,  now  his  lady, 
or,  to  use  the  ancient  term,  his  sister.  The  expression 
is  characteristic  of  the  Egyptian  family,  where  the  sister 
by  father  and  mother  was  by  right  the  favourite  wife  of 
her  brother,  but  the  custom  held  good  for  all  other 
women,  and  here  it  designates  the  mistress  generally, 
whatever  her  social  rank,  lady  or  servant,  young  girl  or 
courtesan.  In  one  of  the  pieces  at  the  beginning  she 
seems  to  have  nothing  more  to  refuse  her  lover,  and  he 
describes  the  charms  she  reveals  with  significant 
vivacity,  but  elsewhere  things  do  not  seem  to  be  so  far 
advanced;  the  lover  complains  of  the  fair  one's  severity, 
and  invents  tricks  to  bring  her  to  his  house.  "  I  shall 
keep  my  bed  at  home,  and  as  I  am  sick,  my  neighbours 
will  come  and  see  me,  my  sister  will  come  with  them; 
she  will  make  the  physicians  ashamed,  for  she  well 
knows  my  malady!"  If  that  artifice  does  not  succeed, 
he  thinks  of  introducing  himself  into  her  house  among 
her  visitors  :  "  My  sister's  villa;  ...  ah  !  if  I  might  be  its 
porter  !  Even  if  my  sister  were  vexed  with  me,  I  should 
listen  to  her  angry  voice  like  a  little  child  trembling 
with  fear."  This  doubtful  favour  does  not  long  content 
him,  and  he  asks  for  more  :  "  Oh  !  that  I  were  her  black 
slave,  she  who  is  always  with  her !  I  should  see  all  the 
beauty  of  her  body  !"  He  would  be  the  ring  she  wears 
on  her  finger,  the  garland  of  flowers  that  surrounds  her 
neck  and  caresses  her  breast;  at  need  he  would  have  no 
scruple  in  giving  her  a  love-potion  which  would  decide 
her  to  open  her  door.  He  even  undertakes  a  pilgrimage 
to  the  temples  of  Memphis,  in  the  hope  that  the  gods 
invoked  by  him  will  intervene  in  his  "favour:  I  go 


i6o     NEW   LIGHT    ON   ANCIENT   EGYPT 

down  the  river  in  a  boat,  the  water  stirred  by  the  rowing 
of  the  crew;  my  bouquet  of  myrtle  on  my  shoulder,  I 
direct  my  course  to  the  city  of  Onkhtaoui,  and  I  shall  say 
to  Phtah  :  '  Give  me  my  sister,  this  night.'  "  At  length 
he  obtains  the  object  of  his  desire,  and  his  mistress  joins 
him  at  the  trysting-place :  "When  I  see  my  sister 
coming,  my  heart  beats  fast,  my  arms  open  to  enfold 
her;  my  heart  rejoices  with  everlasting  joy  when  my 
lady  arrives.  If  she  embraces  me,  and  her  arms  open 
for  me,  it  is  as  if  I  were  anointed  with  the  perfumes  of 
Arabia,  with  the  sweetest  odours  !  If  she  kisses  me  with 
her  half-opened  lips,  I  am  intoxicated  without  need  of 
beer!" 

But  it  is  not  the  man  who  plays  the  chief  part  in  these 
erotic  collections;  the  woman  is  on  the  stage  more  often 
than  he  is,  the  woman  deserted,  or  fearing  to  be  so. 
She  enjoyed  so  much  liberty  in  Egypt  that  the  Greeks 
thought  her  all-powerful  in  the  family,  and  her  husband 
was  her  slave.  It  was  she  who  most  often  took  the  initia- 
tive, and  ran  to  meet  desire.  She  seized  the  first  pretext 
to  offer  herself,  perhaps  one  of  the  hunting  parties  in 
the  marshes,  many  of  which  are  depicted  on  the  walls 
of  the  tombs.  "  The  beauties  of  thy  sister,  the  beloved 
of  thy  heart,  go  down  into  the  meadows,  oh,  my  dearest 
brother !  my  heart  does  what  may  be  agreeable  to  thee, 
and  all  it  may  please  thee  to  invent,  I  say  to  thee,  '  It 
is  done.'  I  have  gone  to  the  hiding-place,  trap  in  hand, 
and  my  cage  and  my  case.  All  the  birds  of  Arabia 
come  down  on  Egypt,  perfumed  with  myrrh,  and  he  who 
flies  above  my  head  has  pricked  my  bait,  bringing  his 
odour  from  Arabia,  his  feet  full  of  sweet-smelling  gums. 
My  heart  burns  that  we  should  take  them  together,  I 
alone  with  thee,  and  that  I  should  make  thee  hear  the 
shrill  voice  of  my  bird  perfumed  with  myrrh.  If  I  obtain 
that  thou  art  there  where  I  am,  with  me,  I  will  manage 
my  trap,  oh,  my  dearest  love,  thou  who  comest  to  his 


EGYPTIAN   LOVE   POETRY  161 

beloved!"    Her    dear    love    does    not    respond    to    the 
appeal ;  she  laments,  forgets  to  watch  her  trap,  lets  the 
game  escape.     "  The  voice  of  the  wild  goose  who  has 
touched  the  bait  is  heard,  but  thy  love  is  not  for  me,  and 
I  do  not  know  how  to  free  myself  from  it.    I  will  remove 
my  nets,  but  what  shall  I  say  to  my  mother,  to  whom 
I  return  each  day,  laden  with  the  birds  I  have  caught? 
I  only  set  my  trap  to-day  to  take  thy  love  prisoner." 
Nothing  would  be  easier  than  to  restore  in  detail  the 
picture  briefly  indicated  by  the  poet;  it  would  suffice  to 
take  one  of  the  paintings   from   a   Theban   tomb   that 
represents  hunting  with  nets,  and  to  put  them  in  charge 
of  the  love-lorn  girl  instead  of  in  that  of  the  customary 
slaves.    The  theme  is  often  repeated,  with  variants,  that 
show  what  a  favourite  one  it  was.    Sometimes  the  joy  of 
love    is    described.     "  The    voice    of    the    turtle-dove 
is  heard,"  she  says;  "  here  is  the  dawn,  and,  weary  as 
I  am,  where  shall  I  go  ?     Not  so,  my  beauteous  bird  ! 
While  you  disputed  with  me,   I  found  my  brother  in 
his    bed,    and    my    heart    more    joyful    than    can    be 
expressed ;  for  I  shall  never  leave  him  more,  but,  hand 
in  hand,  I  shall  go  with  him  through  all  the  beautiful 
places;  he  makes  me  the  first  of  women,  he  who  does 
makes  glad  my  heart."     Then  he  deserts  her,  and  the 
laments  of  the  unhappy  woman,  who  does  not  accept 
the  rupture,  are  poignant:  "  I  keep  my  face  turned  to- 
wards the  door,  for  that  way  comes  my  brother.     My 
two  eyes  watch  the  road,   my  two  ears  listen,   I   turn 
cold,  for  my  brother's  love  is  my  sole  possession,  and 
about  all   that  concerns   him   my   heart  will   never  be 
silent.     And  see,   he  sends  me  a  messenger,   swift  of 
foot,  as  soon  there  as  gone,  to  tell  me — '  I  am  delayed.' 
Ah  !  say,  rather,  that  thou  hast  found  another  mistress  ! 
Oh  !  thou  whose  face  is  false,  why  break  the  heart  of 
another  by  thy  infidelity?" 

If  the  structure  of  these  pieces  is  closely  examined, 
ii 


162     NEW   LIGHT    ON   ANCIENT   EGYPT 

some  attempt  at  style>  a  refinement  of  expression,  a 
certain  grace  is  to  be  recognized.  Some  of  them  are 
conceived  almost  in  the  manner  of  the  Italian  stornelli. 
They  begin  with  the  name  of  a  flower,  on  which  the  poet 
plays  for  several  phrases;  unfortunately,  the  rhyming 
of  the  syllables,  to  which  he  has  recourse  in  order  to  com- 
pare this  or  that  virtue  of  his  mistress  with  the  flower's 
name,  cannot  be  put  into  any  modern  language,  and 
it  makes  a  literal  translation  almost  impossible.  The 
other  rhythms  are  more  easily  perceived,  and  if  we  do  not 
always  succeed  in  realizing  the  special  charm  that  the 
choice  of  a  particular  word,  or  the  employment  of  certain 
grammatical  turns,  gives  to  the  thought,  the  development 
of  the  thought,  at  any  rate,  remains,  and  in  places  is  so 
transparent  and  natural  that  we  find  pleasure  in  follow- 
ing it  even  in  its  modern  garb.  I  have  more  than  once 
in  Egypt  uncorked  a  bottle  of  essence  picked  up  in  a 
tomb.  It  did  not  exhale  any  definite  perfume,  but  a 
vague  odour,  of  which  it  could  not  be  said  that  it  was 
either  agreeable  or  unpleasant,  and  the  sensation  of 
which  vanished  directly  a  definition  of  it  was  attempted. 
If  we  try  to  analyze  the  form  of  these  love  songs,  the 
poetry  contained  in  them  would  vanish  in  the  same 
way;  it  must  be  seized  quickly  and  enjoyed  without 
plan  or  purpose,  without  attempting  to  define  its  nature 
or  to  analyze  its  component  parts. 


XXI 

CAN  THE  PRONUNCIATION   OF  THE   HIEROGLYPHIC   INSCRIP- 
TIONS  BE   DISCOVERED? 

EXPERTS  in  Egyptology  know  that  the  little  animals 
in  single-file  processions  scattered  over  the  Egyptian 
monuments  are  signs  of  letters  or  syllables,  and  that  each 
possesses  its  fixed  value,  with  which  for  the  most  part 
we  are  familiar.  If  on  a  sarcophagus  in  the  Louvre 
you  come  across  a  crouching  hare  with  its  ears,  and  what 
ears !  pricked,  and  a  horned  serpent  gliding  behind  it, 
any  Egyptologist  will  explain  to  you  in  a  couple  of 
words  that  the  hare  represents  a  verb  comprising  an 
ou  and  an  n,  that  the  serpent  is  the  pronoun  of  the 
third  person  singular  masculine,  and  corresponds  to 
our  letter  /,  and  lastly,  that  the  whole  is  transcribed 
ou  +  n  +  f,  and  means  he  is.  It  is  a  fine  result,  and  Cham- 
pollion  as  well  as  his  pupils  had  cause  for  congratulation 
when  they  had  obtained  it;  it  has  since  been  registered 
in  all  the  grammars  of  hieroglyphics  of  which  beginners 
avail  themselves,  and  for  a  long  time  there  the  science 
began  and  ended.  But  this  combination  of  the  three 
sounds  ou  +  n  +  f  is  not  easy  to  pronounce  off-hand,  and 
instinctively  professors  and  students  have  introduced  a 
vowel  between  n  and  /,  the  weakest  and  least  compromis- 
ing of  the  vowels,  a  slightly  open  e.1  Those  who  read 
Egyptian  aloud,  a  pleasure  granted  to  few  persons  in 
this  world,  are  accustomed  to  say  oun-ef.  But  did  the 
Egyptians  themselves  pronounce  it  that  way,  and  is  it 

1  Pronounce  as  in  French. 
163 


164     NEW   LIGHT    ON   ANCIENT   EGYPT 

possible  to  discover  what  their  pronunciation  was?  It 
was  contested  at  first  a  priori,  and  I  have  not  forgotten 
the  indulgent  scepticism  with  which  I  was  greeted  when 
nearly  a  quarter  of  a  century  ago  I  not  only  declared  that 
the  problem  could  be  solved,  but  even  sketched  out  a 
solution.  The  years  that  have  passed  since  then  have 
destroyed  many  prejudices  and  removed  many  doubts; 
a  German,  Sethe,  has  placed  at  the  beginning  of  a 
big  volume  on  the  Egyptian  verb  long  introductory 
chapters  forming  a  veritable  treatise  on  Egyptian  pro- 
nunciation.1 I  am  not  sure  if  he  has  chosen  the  best 
way  to  reach  the  goal  he  aimed  at;  it  is  enough  for  me 
to  attest  that  the  problem,  at  first  considered  insoluble, 
is  now  one  of  those  that  some  students  claim  to  have 
solved. 

No  one  any  longer  doubts  that  the  value  of  the  hiero- 
glyphic signs  has  been  discovered,  and  that  translations 
of  historical  or  literary  inscriptions  hidden  in  them  can 
be  furnished.  But  it  is  not  in  this  case  a  question  of 
transcribing  in  a  modern  language  the  thought  contained 
in  these  ancient  works;  it  is  a  question  of  restoring  the 
fashion  in  which  the  thought  vibrated  in  the  ears  of  those 
who  expressed  it,  to  find  again  the  cadence,  the  modula- 
tion, the  accent,  at  need  the  changes  of  tone  it  has  under- 
gone in  the  course  of  ages.  We  no  longer  hear  it,  and 
no  one  has  heard  it  for  hundreds  of  years,  but  other 
races  whose  language  we  know  did  hear  it  at  the  time 
when  it  was  still  spoken,  and  they  made  notes  of  what 
they  heard.  The  first  time  that  sailors  or  Greek  mer- 
cenaries set  foot  on  the  shores  of  the  Delta,  they  were 
obliged  to  learn  to  speak  the  words  most  needed  in  daily 
intercourse,  and  some  of  them,  chiefly  proper  names, 
names  of  towns,  names  of  kings,  names  of  individuals, 
names  of  gods,  ended  by  getting  written  down  in  Greek 
letters  on  the  tablets  of  Herodotus,  or  in  the  works  of 
1  Sethe  :  Das  AZgyptische  Verbum,  Vol.  i,  pp.  3-33. 


HIEROGLYPHIC   INSCRIPTIONS         165 

other  Greek  historians.  When,  later,  Alexander  hud 
brought  Egypt  under  the  Macedonian  rule,  numbers  of 
such  words  were  inserted  in  public  and  private  acts,  in 
the  registers  of  the  corvees  or  of  the  taxes,  in  con- 
tracts of  marriage  or  of  sale,  in  receipts  of  tolls  or  cus- 
toms, and  they  may  now  be  read  there  by  the  hundred. 
Egyptian  names  were  for  the  most  part  formed  from 
terms  borrowed  from  the  very  foundation  of  the  language, 
ethical  terms,  names  of  trades  or  of  divinities,  of  objects 
or  of  animals.  Many  persons  were  called  Lenegre, 
Lerat,  Lachatte,  and  their  names  were  pronounced  like 
the  same  words  in  the  current  idiom  from  which  they 
were  formed.  Those  who  in  France  have  friends  called 
Lenorrnant,  Picart,  Lelievre,  Lebourgeois  Lalance  make 
no  difference  in  sound  between  those  names  and  the 
common  terms,  Normand,  Picard,  lievre,  bourgeois,  or 
lance;  sometimes  the  proper  name  betrays  dialectical 
divergences,  as  in  Leleu,  Lecat,  Lequien,  by  the  side  of 
Leloup,  Lechat,  Lechien.  It  was  the  same  in  Egypt; 
lord  Pouhori,  otherwise  the  Dog,  has  preserved  for  us 
the  pronunciation  ouhori  that  the  word  for  dog  had  when 
the  Greek  scribes  fixed  its  name  for  the  first  time.  If  we 
reflect  that  we  already  have  four  or  five  thousand  native 
names  thus  clad  in  Greek  letters,  it  is  clear  what  a  re- 
source these  inscriptions  can  become  for  restoring  the 
pronunciation  of  the  hieroglyphics.  There  are  several 
hundreds  of  isolated  words,  of  nouns  accompanied  by  an 
adjective,  even  of  short  phrases  which  come  to  us  as  an 
echo  of  the  Egypt  of  the  Ptolemies.  In  writing  Ephon- 
oukhos,  a  name  which  means  he  is  living,  the  Greeks 
have  taught  us  that  the  verb  corresponding  to  he  is,  and 
the  adjective  corresponding  to  living,  are  pronounced  ef 
and  onoukhou  in  Egyptian.  Such  examples  furnish  the 
material  which  will  restore  the  phonetics  of  several  of 
the  paradigms  of  which  Egyptian  grammar  is  composed. 
The  Greeks  made  these  transcriptions  by  ear,  and  the 


166     NEW   LIGHT   ON  ANCIENT   EGYPT 

ear  is  often  deceptive;  it  must  then  be  admitted  that 
they  were  occasionally  in  error,  and  we  should  not 
blindly  trust  their  notation.  However,  they  rarely  made 
a  very  bad  mistake;  most  often  their  spelling  shows  with 
absolute  accuracy  the  position  of  the  accent,  the  place  and 
tone  of  the  vowels,  the  value  of  the  grammatical  termina- 
tions ;  the  variants  that  a  name  sometimes  presents  have 
always  their  reasons.  With  the  assistance  of  these 
elements,  we  come  to  know  how  a  considerable  part  of 
the  Egyptian  language  was  harmonized  in  the  time  of 
the  Ptolemies  between  the  fourth  and  the  first  centuries 
B.C.  That  is  something,  but  can  we  go  back  still  further, 
or  must  we  give  up  the  possibility  of  reviving  the  sound 
and  the  dialects  of  earlier  times  ?  For  my  part  I  do  not 
think  so,  and  I  count  on  being  able  to  justify  my  opinion 
one  day  or  another.  I  do  not  mean  that  we  shall  ever  be 
able  to  set  up  the  scale  of  tones  or  delicate  half-tones  in 
its  entirety  which  the  people  used  in  order  to  modulate 
their  words  or  phrases ;  but  we  shall  succeed  in  knowing 
the  place  in  which  the  vowels  are  interpolated  in  each 
term,  the  vocal  coloration  as  a  whole  of  each  syllable,  the 
syllable  on  which  the  chief  accent  is  laid,  perhaps,  also, 
the  word  which  received  the  principal  accent  in  each 
phrase.  An  Egyptian  inscription  thus  vocalized  resembles 
one  of  the  frescoes  in  the  hypogeums  of  the  ancient 
Empire,  where  the  colour  is  not,  as  with  us,  the  result  of 
innumerable  delicate  and  well-blended  touches,  but  of 
vast  flat  tints  spread  roughly  one  by  the  side  of  the 
other.  It  would  be  a  distant  and  rude  approximation  to 
nature,  but  sufficient  to  recall  the  original.  The  idea  of 
the  language  thus  furnished  will  harmonize  with  that  of 
the  people  themselves  and  of  their  nature  which  is 
derived  from  the  pictures.  Those  personages,  with  their 
ill-drawn  profiles,  angular  gestures,  scanty  and  stiff 
costume,  act  and  live  awkwardly,  but  they  act  and  live. 
When  we  read  the  inscriptions  placed  above  them, 


HIEROGLYPHIC   INSCRIPTIONS         167 

which  contain  the  conversations  they  held  with  each 
other,  in  the  manner  I  have  indicated,  we  should  doubt- 
less receive  the  impression  of  a  rude,  awkward  language, 
lacking  nuances  and  suppleness,  but  we  should  at  least 
feel  something  of  its  melody ;  ancient  Egypt  would  cease 
to  be  dumb,  and  we  should  begin  to  hear  her  voice. 

Would  the  result  be  worth  the  trouble  it  would  require 
to  attain  it?  It  is  not  only  curiosity  that  drives  our 
scholars  along  this  path,  nor  the  vanity  of  having  over- 
come difficulties  deemed  insurmountable.  The  first  work 
of  deciphering,  that  which  consisted  in  fixing  generally 
what  there  was  in  the  Egyptian  inscriptions,  and  in  ad- 
justing the  settings  of  grammar,  history,  religion,  and 
literature,  is  now  finished,  three-quarters  of  a  century  after 
the  discovery  of  Champollion.  We  are  beginning  to  leave 
behind  the  "  almost  "  with  which  we  had  to  content  our- 
selves on  many  points,  and,  dealing  only  with  literature, 
we  know  the  general  sense  of  it  sufficiently  well  to  desire 
to  go  into  it  in  detail,  and  to  discover  its  technique.  I 
have  already  analyzed  the  love  songs  that  we  read  on 
various  papyri,  and  I  tried  to  translate  portions  of  them.1 
The  idea  is  often  pretty,  and  the  expression  happy. 
How  can  we  imagine  the  rhythm,  the  cadence,  the  vibra- 
tion, all  the  melopeia  of  versification  that  supports  and 
cradles  the  thought,  if  we  are  never  to  know  how  the 
Egyptians  pronounced  their  language  ?  Imagine  what 
would  become  of  the  most  melodious  of  Lamartine's 
"  Meditations  "  if  it  should  be  discovered  later  under  a 
system  of  writing  which,  leaving  the  consonantal  skeleton 
of  the  words,  suppressed  the  vowels  ?  The  poetic 
theme  and  its  developments  would  in  the  long  run  appear 
through  the  irregular  groups  of  consonants,  but  the  music 
would  escape  us  so  long  as  we  could  not  guess  at  any 
method  of  reviving  the  vocalization.  Egyptian  poetry  at 
the  present  time  is  in  the  position  I  suppose  Lamartine's 
1  Cf.  Chapter  XX. 


168     NEW   LIGHT    ON   ANCIENT   EGYPT 

"  Meditations  "  to  be.  It  is  fixed  by  writing,  but  we  do 
not  know  the  art  of  sol-faing  the  notation  and  of  read- 
ing musically  what  we  decipher  grammatically.  It  will 
not  be  necessary  to  revive  all  the  shades  of  articulation. 
In  order  to  enjoy  the  melody  of  the  "  Chanson  de  Roland," 
we  need  not  pronounce  each  sound  exactly  as  a  Parisian 
of  the  twelfth  or  thirteenth  century  would  have  done  :  it 
is  sufficient  to  recite  it  with  the  modern  enunciation, 
modified  a  little  in  certain  points.  The  verse  of  Virgil 
or  of  Homer,  recited  in  the  French  fashion,  still  pre- 
serves something  of  its  sonority  and  measure  :  it  is  no 
longer  the  canticle  of  Roman  poetry,  but  it  is  a  recitative 
not  lacking  in  beauty.  When  we  shall  nearly  pronounce 
Egyptian  as  it  was  sounded  of  old,  and  when  Egyptian 
poetry  has  found  a  melody,  we  shall  be  better  able  to 
appreciate  the  charm  of  rhythm  and  sound  that  went  with 
its  qualities  of  expression  and  thought.  Egypt  had 
several  great  literary  ages,  the  works  of  which,  copied 
from  generation  to  generation,  formed  in  the  end  a  real 
collection  of  classics.  When  we  vocalize  or  declaim 
these  works  with  as  much  facility  as  we  understand  them, 
we  shall  perhaps  come  to  recognize  that  the  poetry  of 
Egypt  was  not  inferior  to  its  plastic  arts,  and  that  the 
Pharaohs  had  poets  as  worthy  of  our  admiration  as  their 
architects  and  sculptors. 


XXII 

CONCERNING  A  RECENTLY  DISCOVERED  FRAGMENT  OF  A 
COPTIC   NOVEL 

ARAB  chroniclers  have  recorded  in  their  works  a  com- 
plete history  of  the  Pharaohs,  which  bears  no  resem- 
blance to  that  derived  by  us  from  the  monuments.  With 
very  few  exceptions  the  names  differ,  the  narratives  are 
near  relations  of  the  veracious  tales  of  the  Arabian 
Nights,  magic,  astrology,  alchemy  play  the  largest  part, 
and  kings  and  ministers  appear  in  them  as  magicians 
or  necromancers  of  superhuman  cleverness.  Temples, 
pyramids,  syringes,  hypogeums  yield  their  hidden 
treasures,  treasures  of  gold  and  silver,  treasures  of  talis- 
mans and  amulets,  treasures  of  inscriptions,  treasures  of 
books  to  which  distant  ancestors  had  confided  the 
mysteries  of  their  wisdom,  the  incomparable  wisdom  of 
the  Egyptians,  in  order  to  save  it  from  the  elements  or 
from  men,  from  the  deluge  of  water  that  inundated  the 
earth,  from  barbarous  invasions  which  so  often  over- 
whelmed the  valley.  Towards  the  end  reminiscences  of 
the  Bible  are  mingled  with  these  incoherent  imaginings, 
and  the  people  of  Genesis  and  Exodus,  the  Pharaoh  of 
Abraham  and  of  Joseph,  Joseph  himself,  Potiphar's 
wife,  then  the  chief  Pharaoh,  he  who  persecuted  the 
Hebrews  and  perished  so  miserably  in  the  Red  Sea,  are 
introduced  into  the  circle  of  magicians.  I  have  shown 
that  this  mass  of  extravagance  was  not  a  pure  and  simple 
invention  of  the  Arabs,  but  was  derived  by  them  as  it 
stands  from  Byzantine  writers  now  lost;  they  merely 

169 


170     NEW   LIGHT    ON   ANCIENT   EGYPT 

added  anecdotes  drawn  directly  from  popular  sources, 
and  Mussulman  legends  grafted  on  to  the  Biblical  tradi- 
tion.1 Egypt,  and  other  provinces  under  the  Empire  of 
the  Caliphs,  thought  to  do  very  well  in  almost  literally 
translating  the  works  offered  them  by  the  natives,  as 
comprising  an  exact  summary  of  their  annals;  the  sort 
of  fantastic  epic  that  flourished  among  them  is  really  the 
last  deformity  that  Egypt  herself  inflicted  on  her  national 
history  before  the  invasion  of  Islam. 

She  had  at  that  time  been  long  working  to  replace  the 
authentic  actors  by  imaginary  heroes.  Already  under 
the  Ramses  a  literature  of  fiction  was  blossoming  forth, 
the  protagonists  of  which  were  the  most  illustrious  kings 
of  former  centuries,  those  who  had  built  the  pyramids, 
Cheops,  Chephren,  Sahouri,  or  those  who  had  driven 
out  the  Shepherds  and  conquered  Asia,  Tiouaqen  and 
Thoutmosis  III.  As  Dynasties  followed  Dynasties  it  went 
on  increasing,  and  when  in  the  middle  of  the  fifth  century 
B.C.  Herodotus  of  Halicarnassus  described  the  wonders 
of  the  Nile  for  the  edification  of  his  fellow-countrymen, 
he  did  not  compile  an  exact  list  or  the  actual  doings 
of  the  sovereigns ;  he  composed  a  romantic  chronicle  in 
which  real  names  cover  exploits  invented  in  every  detail. 
His  second  book  is  a  collection  of  novels,  some  of  which 
are  so  faithfully  transcribed  that  the  form  of  the  Egyptian 
original  is  almost  felt  beneath  the  Hellenic  dress;  for 
example,  the  adventure  of  Rhampsinitus  and  the  clever 
thief,  the  tragi-comedy  of  Pheros  and  his  faithless  wife, 
the  miracle  of  the  priest  Sethos,  the  works  of  Cheops 
and  of  Chephren  the  impious,  the  virtues  of  the  devout 
Mycerinus.  The  Saites  themselves  did  not  escape  this 
invasion  of  fiction,  and  Bocchoris,  Psammetichus  I, 
Nechao,  Apries,  and  Ahmasis  in  turn  amused  the  popular 
fancy.  The  remembrance  of  the  truth  faded  away  as 
the  upper  classes  and  even  the  scribes  lost  the  easy  com- 
1  Journal  des  Savants^  pp.  69-86,  154-172.  1899. 


FRAGMENT   OF   A   COPTIC   NOVEL     171 

prehension  of  the  inscriptions  copied  in  the  papyri  or 
engraved  on  the  monuments.  The  old  stories,  encum- 
bered with  names  and  details  that  no  one  understood, 
gave  place  to  fictions  better  suited  to  the  taste  of  the 
day.  The  pyramids  themselves  escaped  from  Cheops 
and  his  successors  to  become  the  Granaries  of  Joseph  the 
Patriarch,  under  Christian  or  Jewish  influences.  Each 
of  the  Egypts,  as  they  traversed  the  ages,  shortened  cer- 
tain portions  of  the  preceding  chronicle,  developed 
others,  degraded  the  great  men  of  a  former  age  to  absurd 
puppets,  or  promoted  obscure  men  to  the  dignity  of 
glorious  heroes,  corrected,  erased,  invented,  borrowed 
from  neighbouring  nations,  and  combined  the  most 
heterogeneous  plots  with  so  much  perseverance  and  in- 
dustry that  in  the  end  nothing  was  left  of  the  ingenious 
narratives  of  the  old  story-tellers.  Some  testimony  to 
the  long  unconscious  labour  is  to  be  found  in  the  hieratic 
and  demotic  papyri  of  Greek  writers  and  Byzantine 
compilers;  now  the  Copts  have  joined  the  ranks  and 
begin  to  send  us  their  contingent. 

Two  years  ago  1  Heinrich  Schaefer  discovered  among 
some  parchments  recently  acquired  by  the  Berlin 
Museum  six  large  detached  sheets  of  a  work  in  the 
Theban  dialect;  it  seemed  to  him  to  be  a  somewhat 
different  text  from  those  of  the  ordinary  manuscripts 
coming  from  that  source.2  They  are  the  only  fragments 
so  far  known  of  a  novel  the  subject  of  which  is  the 
conquest  of  Egypt  by  the  Persians.  Quite  properly, 
Cambyses  is  in  the  foreground,  but  a  Cambyses  to  whom 
we  are  unaccustomed.  Since  he  left  the  hands  of 
Herodotus  he  has  read  the  Bible,  and  having  there  made 
the  acquaintance  of  Nebuchadnezzar,  who,  like  himself, 
reigned  at  Babylon,  imagined  himself  identical  with 

1  This  article  appeared  in  1900. 

2  H.  Schaefer :    "  Bruchstiick  eines  koptischen  Romans  iiber  die 
Eroberung  ALgyptens  durch  Kambyses,"  extract  from  the   Comptes 
Rendus  of  the  Berlin  Academy,  Vol.  xxxviii,  pp.  727-744. 


i72     NEW   LIGHT   ON   ANCIENT   EGYPT 

that  vainglorious  monarch.  The  East  trembles  before 
him;  Pharaoh  is  his  rival,  yet  not  Ahmasis  or  Psam- 
metichus  III,  as  he  had  so  long  thought,  but  Apries, 
the  Hophra  that  the  Hebrew  books  give  as  Nebuchad- 
nezzar's adversary.  About  to  attack  him,  he  calls  upon 
the  Syrian  peoples  to  renounce  their  allegiance  to  Egypt, 
and  the  first  of  the  fragments  introduces  him  at  that 
moment.  His  letter  of  challenge  is  couched  in  strong 
terms,  but  its  only  effect  is  to  irritate  the  people  to  whom 
it  is  addressed;  the  messengers  were  on  the  point  of 
perishing,  when  a  certain  Bothor,  "  a  man  of  prudent 
counsel  and  skilful  tongue,  a  hero  by  his  strength  and 
a  champion  in  battle,"  thought  of  a  way  to  save  them. 
He  persuaded  the  people  ignominiously  to  expel  them, 
giving  them  an  insulting  challenge  for  their  master. 
"  We  write  to  you  as  to  a  timorous  coward,  to  you, 
Cambyses,  whose  name  in  our  language  is  Sanouo, 
which  translated  means  Coward  and  Dastard.  See,  we 
have  expelled  your  ambassadors,  for  we  do  not  fear 
you ;  but  we  possess  great  praise,  and  we  glorify  our 
Lord  Pharaoh,  he  who  rules  in  glory.  We  did  not 
desire  to  kill  your  ambassadors,  but  at  the  time  of  the 
manifestation  you  will  see  what  we  shall  do  to  you. 
.  .  .  First,  we  shall  massacre  the  soldiers  in  whom  you 
trust ;  we  shall  kill  your  sons  before  your  eyes ;  we  shall 
cast  low  your  tyrants;  your  gods  Vho  accompany  you, 
we  shall  burn  by  fire;  and  as  for  you,  we  shall  not  be 
content  with  roasting  your  flesh,  but  we  shall  tear  it 
with  our  teeth  like  bears,  like  strong  lions.  Therefore, 
oh  wretched  man  !  consider,  reflect,  know  what  you  had 
best  do,  before  punishment  falls  on  you  by  the  hands  of 
Egypt.  Who,  indeed,  among  the  kings,  not  only  of 
the  Assyrians  but  of  all  the  earth,  has  ever  withstood 
or  been  able  to  prevail  against  Egypt,  that  you,  oh 
impious  man  !  should  prevail  against  her?  The  kings  of 
Gaul,  or  of  the  Hittites,  or  of  the  West,  or  of  the  icy 


FRAGMENT   OF  A    COPTIC   NOVEL     173 

North,  or  of  the  Medes,  do  you  not  say  of  all  those  : 
1  They  are  valiant '  ?  Why,  then,  have  they  not  saved 
their  countries  from  Egypt  when  they  laboured  hard  not 
to  become  our  slaves  ?  All  those  in  whom  you  put  your 
trust  will  never  be  masters;  they  will  always  be  slaves." 
"  When  the  messengers  that  Nebuchadnezzar-Cam- 
byses  had  sent  returned,  they  told  him  all  that  had 
happened  to  them,  and  delivered  the  letter.  Having 
read  it  he  grew  troubled,  and  summoned  his  councillors 
and  spoke  to  them,  saying  :  '  What  shall  we  do  ?  You 
have  heard  how  those  who  are  in  the  countries  of  the 
rising  sun  stand  against  me,  saying  :  "  We  will  not  sub- 
mit to  you,  because  the  power  of  Egypt  is  on  our  side." 
Do  you  desire  us  to  begin  by  turning  against  them,  and 
so  to  strike  them  with  the  edge  of  the  sword  that  Egypt 
shall  hear  of  it  and  become  alarmed,  and  shall  submit 
herself  to  me  in  peace  and  in  terror !'  Now  there  were 
seven  councillors,  and  one  of  them,  and  his  word  carried 
weight,  said  to  the  king  :  '  May  the  king  live  for  ever  ! 
Listen  to  the  counsel  of  your  servant.  Do  not  go  against 
them,  and  do  not  be  persuaded  to  attack  them.'  And 
he  suggested  a  trick  which  would  disconcert  Egypt,  and 
give  her  up  to  him  disarmed.  '  Send  messengers 
throughout  the  length  and  breadth  of  Egypt,  in  the  name 
of  Pharaoh,  their  master,  and  in  that  of  Apis,  their  god, 
inviting  them  with  gracious  words  to  a  festival  and  a 
royal  panegyric,  and  to  come  free  from  anxiety  and 
with  an  easy  heart  that  thinks  not  of  war.  When  they 
are  assembled  their  master  will  see  that  another  rule 
has  taken  hold  of  them,  he  will  be  afraid,  very  much 
afraid,  and  he  will  deliver  his  country  into  your  hands. 
If  not,  you  will  experience  great  trouble,  as  I  have  told 
you.  For  who  can  stand  against  these  giants,  who  can 
fight  with  these  bears?  Who  will  undertake  a  combat 
with  these  lions  without  counsel,  without  knowledge, 
without  skill,  in  order  to  become  their  lord?'  And  he 


174    NEW   LIGHT   ON   ANCIENT   EGYPT 

sang  a  superb  hymn  of  praise  to  Egyptian  prowess  : 
'  The  Egyptians  are  all  warriors,  and  their  wives  know 
how  to  cast  stones  with  the  sling,  and  they  bear  their 
children  to  train  them  for  war.  First,  when  they  are 
little,  they  teach  them  to  speak  the  truth,  and  at  the  same 
time  instruct  them  how  to  endure  pain  without  flinching. 
Then  when  they  become  stronger,  they  mount  them  on 
spirited  horses,  and  when  they  are  skilled  in  horseman- 
ship they  are  instructed  in  the  use  of  arms;  they  take 
possession  of  bow  and  lance,  and  dread  no  war,  for  they 
are  like  the  bee,  against  whom  none  can  do  anything 
except  by  stratagem.  So  that  you  can  do  nothing 
against  Egypt  except  by  cunning  and  wisdom.  If  you 
succeed  in  assembling  them  together  by  your  wisdom, 
then  you  may  raise  your  lances  against  them ;  if  you  do 
not  succeed,  you  must  not  turn  your  face  against  them.' 
The  advice  pleased  Cambyses.  He  gave  commands  to 
his  messengers,  and  entrusted  them  with  a  letter 
addressed  to  all  the  towns  and  villages,  to  all  the  nobles, 
to  all  the  fellaheen,  to  the  rich  and  to  the  poor.  He 
invited  them  to  come  in  peace  to  the  festival  of  Apis, 
that  the  god  might  reveal  himself  to  them.  '  Whoever 
does  not  come  will  bring  upon  himself  the  malediction 
and  wrath  of  Apis ;  but  he  who  comes  will  'receive  bene- 
diction, he,  and  his  whole  house.'  '  The  Egyptians  were 
thoughtful  on  the  receipt  of  this  invitation.  The  more 
they  reflected  on  the  adventure,  the  less  they  liked  it; 
they  applied  to  their  seers  for  a  final  decision  on  the 
matter,  and  this  time  they  did  not  belie  their  old  reputa- 
tion for  sagacity.  They  divined  that  the  author  of  the 
proclamation  was  not  Pharaoh-Apries,  but  Nebuchad- 
nezzar-Cambyses,  and  the  deceiver,  deluded  of  his  hope, 
was  obliged  to  undertake  the  war  he  so  greatly  dreaded. 
What  remains  of  the  novel  stops  at  the  moment  the 
war  begins,  and  it  is  a  vast  pity.  It  would  have  been 
interesting  to  see  how  far  it  departed  from  the  classical 


FRAGMENT   OF  A    COPTIC   NOVEL     175 

tradition.  The  author  is  an  Egyptian.  Only  an 
Egyptian  was  capable  of  composing  so  well  written  an 
eulogy  of  the  inhabitants  of  the  valley  as  that  which 
may  be  read  in  the  oration  of  Cambyses's  councillor. 
Was  the  first  composition  in  Egyptian  or  Greek? 
Schaefer  has  pointed  out  certain  analogies  with  passages 
in  John  of  Nikiou's  chronicle  relating  to  the  Persian 
conquest,  and  it  has  been  thought  that  that  chronicle 
was  translated  from  the  Coptic  into  the  Ethiopian.  As 
far  as  can  be  judged  from  such  brief  fragments,  I  am 
inclined  to  believe  that  the  original  work  was  in  Greek, 
and  that  it  belonged  to  a  relatively  ancient  epoch  of 
Alexandrian  literature.  The  way  in  which,  under  the 
influence  of  the  Biblical  tradition,  the  Hellenic  tradition 
is  disfigured,  recalls  the  manner  in  which  the  Alexan- 
drine Jews  conceived  the  relations  of  Egypt  with  the 
peoples  of  Asia  mentioned  in  the  Hebrew  books;  it  is 
a  composition  similar  to  those  of  which,  thanks  to  the 
pamphlet  of  Josephus  against  Apion,  we  possess  a  few 
extracts.  It  was  translated  into  the  Theban  dialect,  like 
the  romance  of  Alexander  of  Macedon,  and  like  many 
other  works  now  lost  of  which  we  find  mention  among 
the  Mussulmans.  Its  chief  value  for  us  is,  that  it  is  a 
fragment,  so  far  unique,  of  those  Books  of  the  Copts 
repeatedly  quoted  by  Arabian  historians,  the  exist- 
ence of  which  has  been  too  easily  doubted,  and  from 
which  the  last  of  the  fabulous  histories  of  Egypt  are 
certainly  derived. 


XXIII 

AN   ANCIENT  EGYPTIAN   PROVINCIAL  TOWN 

FOR  those  who  have  made  the  classic  pilgrimage  of 
the  Nile,  the  name  of  Denderah  recalls  their  first  actual 
sight  of  an  Egyptian  temple.  A  struggle  with  Cook's 
donkey-drivers,  who  dispute  as  to  which  of  them  is  to 
take  the  tourist,  twenty  minutes'  ride  along  a  winding 
road  between  fields  of  beans,  wheat  or  Indian  millet,  and 
then  appears  a  triumphal  door,  almost  level  with  the 
ground,  and  immense  women's  heads  supporting  a 
heavy  cornice.  The  mass  of  ruins  has  so  filled  up  the 
temple  that,  in  spite  of  successive  excavations,  it  is  neces- 
sary to  descend  before  setting  foot  on  the  ancient  pave- 
ment. Once  there  we  suddenly  find  ourselves  in  a  world 
far  removed  from  ours :  we  are  in  the  midst  of  columns, 
bas-reliefs,  paintings,  light  or  dark  halls,  crypts  lost  in 
the  thickness  of  the  walls,  staircases  ascending  to  the 
terrace  near  the  chapels  of  Osiris  and  near  the  roof 
of  the  hypostyle.  Everything  is  so  wejl  preserved 
that,  turning  down  a  corridor,  we  almost  expect  to 
see  one  of  the  ancient  worshippers  forgotten  of  time. 
If  the  old  priests  who  sleep  beneath  the  hill  not  far 
distant  could  come  to  life  again  at  the  beginning  of 
some  climacteric  year,  and  by  chance  enter  the  sanc- 
tuary they  had  so  devotedly  served,  they  would  have 
little  to  do  to  put  it  in  due  order,  and  to  restore  the 
ceremonial  of  worship.  A  ceiling  and  a  casing  here 
and  there,  a  few  slabs  of  sandstone  on  the  floor,  some 
colour  on  the  walls,  some  leaves  of  doors  to  the  rooms, 
and  in  a  couple  of  months  the  temple  would  be 

176 


AN   ANCIENT   PROVINCIAL    TOWN      177 

ready  to  receive  the  emblems  of  the  goddess,  the  white 
cow  of  Hathor,  or  her  golden  timbrel.  Indeed,  if  we 
may  believe  the  inhabitants  of  the  neighbouring  village, 
the  cow  is  still  alive.  They  saw  her  in  the  night  wander- 
ing over  their  fields,  greedily  deducting  the  tithe  from 
their  crops.  She  treats  those  who  are  content  to  admire 
her  from  a  distance  kindly,  but  she  runs  at  and  tramples 
on  those  who  approach  her.  She  lodges  in  the  chapel 
known  as  the  Chapel  of  the  New  Year,  and  watches  over 
the  sacred  treasure  of  which  neither  the  Christians  nor 
the  Mussulmans  have  been  able  to  rob  her.  Hathor  is 
neither  dead  nor  in  exile  :  in  her  own  house  she  patiently 
waits  for  the  ancient  divinities  once  again  to  take  the 
ascendant  over  the  modern  gods. 

Most  travellers  bring  away  a  vivid  impression,  but 
leisure  to  deepen  it  is  usually  wanting,  and  they  hur- 
riedly catch  train  or  boat  without  troubling  to  find  out 
if  there  are  other  ancient  monuments  in  the  neighbour- 
hood. They  would  not  have  to  explore  very  far  to  dis- 
cover them,  for,  only  a  few  hundred  yards  to  the  south, 
Flinders  Petrie  explored  in  1898  a  necropolis  where 
several  princes  of  the  city  had  been  buried  at  a  very 
remote  epoch  under  the  Pharaohs  who  built  the 
Pyramids.1  None  of  these  personages  had  been  famous 
among  his  contemporaries,  and  the  opening  of  their 
tombs  has  not  enriched  history  with  any  unpublished 
fact;  but  the  interest  of  the  inscriptions  and  bas-reliefs 
found  there  is  all  the  same  very  great.  So  far  the 
chances  of  excavation  had  taken  us  to  the  abodes  of  the 
Pharaohs  themselves  and  of  the  persons  of  their  court, 
into  the  most  refined  classes  of  society,  and  into  the  dis- 
tricts where  civilization  was  most  widely  spread.  Our 
knowledge  of  the  industries,  customs  and  arts  came 
entirely  from  the  cemeteries  of  Gizeh  or  Sakkarah, 

1  Flinders  Petrie  :  Dendereh,  1898  ;  with  chapters  by  F.  LI.  Griffith, 
Dr.  Gladstone,  and  Olderfield  Thomas.  1900. 


178     NEW   LIGHT    ON   ANCIENT   EGYPT 

where  everything  showed  us  Egypt  at  its  best.  Gradu- 
ally, however,  researches  undertaken  in  the  Said 
brought  to  light  a  provincial  art  and  civilization  differing 
in  many  points  from  the  royal  civilization  at  Kasr-es- 
Sayad,  El-Kab  or  Elephantine.  The  local  magnates 
may  be  seen  at  work  under  the  peaceful  sovereignty  of 
the  ruler  who  lived  far  in  the  north  near  Memphis,  and 
we  are  struck  with  the  awkwardness,  sometimes  even 
with  the  actual  barbarism  of  their  monuments.  The 
lords  of  Elephantine^  intrepid  explorers,  enriched  by 
the  caravans  they  sent  to  the  regions  situated  to  the 
west  of  the  Nile  or  on  the  shores  of  the  Red  Sea,1  only 
employed  stone-cutters  and  daubers  to  decorate  their 
funerary  chapels.  They  drew  on  them  scenes  similar  to 
those  we  find  in  the  tombs  of  Sakkarah,  and  they  could 
scarcely  be  different,  for  they  had  the  same  ideas  about 
the  life  beyond  the  tomb  as  the  Egyptians  of  the  Delta. 
They  represented  them,  however,  with  so  unskilful  a 
chisel,  by  figures  so  curiously  deformed,  that  a  date  far 
back  in  the  beginnings  of  history  would  be  attributed  to 
them,  if  the  names  of  the  masters  they  served  did  not 
compel  us  to  place  them  at  least  two  centuries  later  than 
the  chetkh  el  beled  of  the  Gizeh  Museum,  the  Crouching 
scribe  of  the  Louvre,  the  Chephren,  and  other  master- 
pieces of  archaic  sculpture.  The  feudal  art  of  Elephan- 
tin6  was  many  generations  behind  the  royal  art  of 
Memphis. 

The  first  princes  of  Denderah  were  almost  con- 
temporary with  those  of  Elephantine",  but  as  their  monu- 
ments testify,  fortune  did  not  favour  them  the  more  for 
that.  Their  designers  were  less  ignorant  and  their  sculp- 
tors did  not  lack  some  skill  in  their  profession,  proof  of 
which  is  to  be  found  in  the  stelae  or  bas-reliefs  discovered 
by  Petrie,  photographs  of  which  he  has  published.  Pro- 
vincialism is  shown  in  even  the  best  of  them  by  the  naive 
1  Cf.  Chapter  II. 


B,   tc] 


<  a. 

M    * 


AN   ANCIENT   PROVINCIAL    TOWN      179 

care  with  which  the  details  of  the  hieroglyphics  and  the 
figures  are  brought  out.  There  is  a  conscientious  stiff- 
ness in  the  figures,  a  laborious  application  in  the  model- 
ling, a  detail  in  the  execution  of  the  costumes  and 
emblems,  a  stiffness  in  the  cut  of  the  letters,  which  prove 
what  an  effort  it  was  for  these  people  to  produce  pictures 
which  the  artists  of  Memphis  turned  out  by  dozens  off- 
hand. The  profile  of  the  human  face  is  surrounded  by 
two  stiff  lines  joined  in  an  almost  imperceptible  angle 
near  the  point  of  the  nose,  the  mouth  swells  into  two 
lips  equally  thick  from  one  side  to  the  other,  an  almond 
eye  protrudes  between  two  pads  which  oddly  simulate 
eyelashes.  The  slope  of  the  shoulders  is  too  round,  the 
elbow  is  too  pointed,  the  knee  too  knotted,  the  muscles 
of  the  leg  too  fantastic ;  it  is  clear  that  an  ambition  to  do 
well  was  not  absent,  but  technigue  and  feeling  are  not 
on  a  level  with  it.  I  speak  of  the  pieces  that  are  least 
bad,  of  those  which  belong  to  the  great  epoch  of  the 
Vlth  Dynasty;  others  are  frankly  horrible,  those  which 
Petrie  places,  with  good  reason,  I  think,  in  the  Vllth 
and  Vlllth  Dynasties.  And  yet  the  nobles  who  were 
contented  with  such  poor  artists  possessed  wealth  and 
power,  and  if  they  gave  them  these  tasks  it  was  not  from 
ill-conceived  economy;  it  was  because  no  better  artists 
were  forthcoming.  Provincial  studios  insisted  on  follow- 
ing the  teaching  they  had  received  from  their  founders 
in  times  already  distant  from  the  early  Dynasties,  and 
worked  on  the  old  lines.  When  specimens  of  what  was 
being  done  elsewhere  came  their  way  they  had  instinct 
enough  to  feel  the  superiority  of  the  new  school,  but  they 
had  not  intelligence  or  skill  enough  to  borrow  its 
methods  and  to  apply  them.  Their  works  have  a  strong 
resemblance  to  the  early  ones  of  the  Theban  school;  it 
seems  that  one  tradition  governed  all  that  corner  of  the 
valley;  they  were  waiting  to  improve,  and  to  reach 
the  perfection  of  the  studios  of  Memphis,  until  events 

1) 


i8o     NEW    LIGHT   ON   ANCIENT   EGYPT 

brought  the  southern  cities  to  a  higher  degree  of  political 
activity  and  military  power. 

The  deeper  we  penetrate  into  the  inmost  recesses  of 
Egypt  the  more  the  originality  of  the  cities  that  com- 
posed the  double  kingdom  becomes  manifest.  It  is  not 
so  long  since  the  greater  number  of  students  interested 
in  Egypt  complained  of  the  uniformity  and  monotony 
that  prevailed  there  :  they  found  there  kings  identical  one 
with  the  other  in  their  hieratic  majesty,  a  people  of  un- 
changing character,  always  the  same  from  the  beginning 
to  the  end  of  its  existence,  a  political  organization  that 
never  progressed,  a  religion  that  never  changed,  a  fixed 
art  and  civilization  into  which  no  new  element  would  be 
introduced  for  ages.  And  now,  with  the  continuous  pro- 
gress of  research,  that  conception  of  immobility  is  being 
effaced  and  is  disappearing.  The  Pharaohs  overturn, 
poison,  assassinate  or  persecute  each  other  with  ferocity 
even  after  death,  and  their  mummies,  despoiled  of  their 
wrappings,  expose  to  view  the  wounds  to  which  such  a 
one  succumbed.  The  people  ridicule  their  masters,  rise 
against  them,  sometimes  go  on  strike,  revealing  them- 
selves as  one  of  the  most  violent  and  turbulent  nations 
of  the  ancient  world.  Gods,  like  men,  underwent  revolu- 
tions; their  dogmas  were  modified,  were  displaced,  dis- 
puted or  banished,  sometimes  the  stake  was  prepared  for 
heretics.  The  constitution  of  the  land  was  transformed 
from  age  to  age,  and  with  it  social  life  and  art.  A  period 
of  despotic  monarchy  followed  a  time  of  feudal  anarchy, 
and  a  great  martial  fief  like  Thebes  ended  in  a  pure 
theocracy,  first  in  the  hands  of  the  priests,  and  then  in 
those  of  the  women.  Art  manifested  itself  in  a  number  of 
schools  in  the  provinces,  prospered  at  one  point,  declined 
at  another,  was  revived  from  century  to  century.  The 
monuments  discovered  by  Petrie  do  not  allow  us  to 
reconstruct  the  whole  history  of  Denderah ;  but  they  in- 
form us  of  what  it  was  when  the  monarchy  of  Memphis 


AN   ANCIENT   PROVINCIAL    TOWN      181 

fell,  and  gradually  yielded  the  chief  place  to  that  of 
Thebes.  Those  who  desire  to  study  the  monuments  in 
detail  and  to  compare  them  with  those  of  neighbouring 
baronies  that  have  reached  us,  would  not  find  much 
trouble  in  tracing  a  complete  picture  of  life  in  the  Said 
from  about  the  end  of  the  fourth  till  about  the  beginning 
of  the  third  millenary  B.C.  It  would  be  an  interesting 
undertaking,  and  would  certainly  surprise  others  than 
expert  scholars. 


XXIV 

A  NEW  EGYPTIAN  TALE 

IN  Egypt  magic  was  always  one  of  the  chief  elements 
of  romantic  literature ;  about  the  Ptolemaic  era  it  became 
almost  the  unique  element  of  interest,  for  without  it  no 
tale  was  esteemed  good.  The  Egyptians,  forced  to  ac- 
knowledge their  political  inferiority  to  the  Greeks  and 
Romans,  were  proud  of  magic  as  the  one  superiority 
that  their  masters  could  not  refuse  them.  They  had  no 
longer  any  generals  or  Pharaohs,  but  their  sorcerers  were 
still  feared,  and  that  somewhat  consoled  them  for  their 
fall.  Their  ancient  magicians  became  objects  of  veri- 
table worship,  and  the  numerous  writings  which  told  of 
their  miracles  were  eagerly  read.  Two  of  them,  a  scribe, 
Amenothes,  son  of  Hapoui,  who  had  been  one  of  the 
favourites  of  Amen6thes  III  under  the  XVIIIth  Dynasty, 
and  Khamois,  son  of  Ramses  II,  who  had  acted  as 
regent  for  his  father  for  more  than  twenty  years,  had 
especially  remained  or  again  become  dear  to  their 
memory.  Two  novels  are  already  known  to  us,  of  which 
the  latter  is  the  hero.  The  oldest  is  in  the  Cairo  Museum, 
and  was  discovered  by  Brugsch;  the  other  is  now  in  the 
British  Museum.  Griffith  has  just  published  them 
both  in  facsimile,  in  transcription,  and  in  an  English 
version.1  Of  the  first,  generally  called  The  Tale  of 
Saini,  I  shall  say  nothing;  it  has  been  so  often  trans- 
lated during  the  last  thirty  years  that  its  plot  is  familiar 

1  Stories  of  the  High  Priests  of  Memphis:  the  Sethon  of  Herodotus 
and  the  Demotic  Tales  of  Khamuas,  by  F.  LI.  Griffith,  M.A.  1900. 

182 


A    NEW   EGYPTIAN    TALE  183 

to  students  of  Oriental  literature.1  The  second  was  un- 
published before  Mr.  Griffith  took  it  in  hand,  and  lacunae 
frequently  interrupt  the  text,  but  they  do  not  prevent 
us  from  following  the  train  of  ideas.  Its  style  is  less 
polished  than  that  of  the  other;  the  language  is  awkward, 
and  betrays  the  period  of  the  decadence.  Yet  it  pleases 
by  the  strangeness  of  the  situations  and  the  originality 
of  the  characters.2 

The  beginning  represented  the  Princess  Mehitouoskhit, 
wife  of  Satni-Khamois,  in  great  grief  because  she  had 
no  children ;  a  dream  revealed  to  her  the  means  by  which 
her  desire  could  be  fulfilled,  and  another  dream  revealed 
to  her  husband  that  the  son  she  was  to  bear  should  be 
named  Si-Osiri,  and  that  he  would  do  many  marvels. 
In  fact,  the  child,  sent  to  school  when  he  was  four 
years  old,  soon  excelled  his  masters  in  knowledge  of 
magic.  One  day,  when  he  attended  a  festival  with  his 
father,  they  heard  the  voice  of  wailing,  and  perceived 
the  funeral  procession  of  a  rich  man  proceeding  towards 
the  necropolis  of  Memphis,  in  all  the  glory  of  an 
Egyptian  burial.  Another  funeral  came  behind,  that  of 
a  poor  man,  whose  mummy  was  wrapped  in  a  mat,  and 
there  were  none  walking  after  him.  Satni,  comparing 
in  his  mind  the  two  destinies  which  ended  in  such  dif- 
ferent ways,  exclaimed:  "  How  much  better  it  shall  be 
in  Hades  for  great  men,  accompanied  with  glory  and 
the  voice  of  wailing,  than  for  poor  men,  whom  none 
accompanies!"  That  was  the  old  Egyptian  idea,  but 
Si-Osiri,  better  instructed  in  the  reality  of  things, 
sternly  replied  to  his  father  :  "  May  it  be  done  unto  you 
in  Hades  as  it  shall  be  done  unto  this  poor  man,  and 
not  as  it  shall  be  done  unto  this  rich  man  !"  And,  in 
order  to  prove  the  foolishness  of  his  belief,  Si-Osiri  led 

}•  It  may  be  found  in  Maspero  :  Les  Contes  populaires  de  VAncienne 
Egypte,  3rd  edit,  1905. 

2  The  complete  translation   will    be  found  in    Maspero's   Contes 
populaires  de  VAntienne  Egypte,  3rd  edit.,  1905. 


1 84     NEW   LIGHT    ON   ANCIENT   EGYPT 

his  father  to  Hades  by  a  path  unknown  to  all,  and  made 
him  traverse,  one  after  the  other,  the  six  immense  halls 
in  which  the  souls  were  shut  up.  At  the  entrance  of  the 
fifth  a  man  was  lying  on  the  ground,  in  such  a  position 
that  the  pivot  of  the  door  was  fixed  in  his  right  eye. 
Osiris  sat  in  the  centre  of  the  seventh  hall,  a  diadem  of 
feathers  on  his  head,  Anubis  on  his  left,  Thot  on  his 
right,  the  infernal  council  to  the  left  and  right  of  him. 
The  dread  balance  in  which  truth  weighs  human 
actions  was  placed  in  front  of  him.  Seated  near  the  god 
was  a  person  of  noble  appearance ;  he  was  the  poor  man 
whose  fate  Satni  had  just  deplored;  his  good  deeds, 
thrown  into  the  scales,  had  outweighed  his  evil  deeds. 
But  the  evil  deeds  of  the  rich  man  had  outweighed  his 
good  deeds,  and  so  divine  justice  had  reversed  their 
conditions.  The  sumptuous  belongings  of  the  rich  man 
had  been  given  to  the  poor  man,  and  the  rich  man  was 
condemned  to  have  his  eye  put  out  by  the  opening  and 
shutting  of  the  door.  After  visiting  the  abode  of  the 
Manes  they  returned  to  the  light  by  a  different  road,  and 
Satni  marvelled  more  than  ever  at  the  superhuman 
powers  of  his  son. 

The  boy  was  twelve  years  old  when  a  stranger  arrived 
at  the  court,  with  much  parade,  with  a  message  from 
the  King  of  Ethiopia  to  the  Pharaoh  Ousimares.  He 
carried  a  sealed  letter  on  his  body,  and  he  challenged 
them  to  read  it  on  him  without  breaking  the  seal  or 
unfolding  the  sheet:  "  If  there  is  no  scribe  or  learned 
man  capable  of  doing  it  I  will  take  the  humiliation  of 
Egypt  to  the  land  of  the  negroes,  my  country."  Pharaoh 
sent  for  Satni-Khamois,  the  most  celebrated  of  his 
magicians,  and  repeated  to  him  the  terms  of  the  chal- 
lenge. Satni  was  in  despair,  but,  ashamed  to  confess 
himself  conquered  before  the  battle,  he  asked  for  a 
week's  delay,  in  order  to  make  his  preparations.  He 
returned  home  stupefied,  went  to  bed  without  taking  the 


A    NEW   EGYPTIAN    TALE  185 

trouble  to  undress,  and  the  ministrations  of  his  wife, 
Mehitouoskhit,  could  not  bring  him  out  of  his  stupor. 
In  the  end,  however,  he  confided  the  cause  of  his  distress 
to  Si-Osiri,  who  laughed  in  his  face.  Satni  was 
offended,  but  his  son  replied  :  "  I  laugh  to  see  you  lying 
on  the  ground,  your  heart  cast  down,  for  such  a  piece  of 
nonsense.  Arise,  my  father  Satni,  I  will  read  the  letter 
from  Ethiopia  without  opening  it,  and  find  what  is 
written  upon  it  without  breaking  the  seal."  When 
Satni  heard  these  words  he  arose  suddenly:  "What 
proof  will  you  give  me  that  you  are  telling  the  truth,  oh, 
my  son  Si-Osiri  ?"  And  Si-Osiri  rejoined  :  "  My  father 
Satni,  go  to  the  cellars  of  your  house,  and  every  scroll 
that  you  take  from  the  case  I  will  tell  you  what  scroll  it 
is,  from  the  place  where  I  now  am  on  the  upper  storey, 
without  having  seen  it."  He  did  as  he  had  promised,  and 
Satni,  comforted,  hastened  to  announce  the  good  news 
to  the  Pharaoh.  On  the  morning  of  the  day  appointed 
for  the  trial  Ousimares  solemnly  assembled  the  great 
men  of  the  kingdom,  summoned  the  messenger,  and 
confronted  him  with  Si-Osiri :  "  Woe,  thou  wicked 
Ethiopian!"  exclaimed  the  child;  "may  Amon,  your 
god,  smite  you  !  You  have  come  up  to  Egypt,  the  beau- 
tiful pool  of  Osiris,  the  throne  of  Harmakhis,  the  beau- 
tiful horizon  of  the  good  spirit,  saying  :  '  I  will  take  its 
humiliation  to  the  land  of  the  negroes  !'  But  I  am  going 
to  recite  to  you  the  words  that  Amon,  your  god,  dictated 
to  you,  the  words  written  in  the  letter;  do  not  attempt 
to  deny  them  before  Pharaoh,  your  sovereign!"  The 
messenger  touched  the  ground  with  his  forehead,  swore 
not  to  prevaricate  in  anything,  and  then,  in  the  presence 
of  the  king  and  of  all  the  people,  Si-Osiri  began  to  recite 
what  was  in  the  sealed  letter. 

The  story  which  is  grafted  on  to  the  first  one  is  entirely 
new,  and  seems  at  first  to  have  nothing  in  common  with 
it.  In  the  reign  of  Manakhphres  Siamon,  an  Ethiopian 


1 86     NEW   LIGHT    ON   ANCIENT   EGYPT 

sorcerer  of  great  power,  Horus,  son  of  the  negress,  had 
made  a  litter  of  wax  with  four  runners.  By  means  of 
a  magic  formula  he  had  endowed  his  puppets  with  life, 
and  had  then  enjoined  them  to  go  to  Egypt,  and  bring 
the  Pharaoh  to  Meroe;  there  they  gave  him  500  blows 
of  the  stick  before  the  Viceroy  of  Ethiopia,  and  had  then 
brought  him  back  to  his  palace,  running  all  the  way, 
after  only  six  hours'  absence.  The  next  morning  Pha- 
raoh, much  afflicted,  complained  to  the  persons  of  his 
court,  exhibited  his  bruised  back,  and,  when  they  had 
sufficiently  wondered  at  it,  he  commanded  them  to  reveal 
the  cause.  One  of  them,  Horus,  son  of  Panashi,  a 
scribe  renowned  among  his  contemporaries,  stated  the 
cause  without  the  slightest  hesitation.  "  Sire,"  he  said, 
"  these  are  the  sorceries  of  the  Ethiopians;  by  the  breath 
of  thy  nostrils  I  will  arrange  matters  so  that  the  wretches 
shall  soon  go  to  the  chamber  of  torture  and  execution." 
"Very  well,"  replied  Siamon,  "but  make  haste,  and 
take  care  that  I  do  not  spend  another  night  in  the  land 
of  the  negroes."  Horus,  son  of  Panashi,  then  armed 
his  master  with  a  cuirass  of  amulets,  entered  the  temple 
of  Hermopolis,  and  implored  Thot  to  teach  him  how  to 
save  Pharaoh  from  the  sorceries.  Thot  appeared  to 
him  in  a  dream,  and  indicated  the  place  in  which  he 
had  hidden  the  most  efficacious  of  his  books  of  magic. 
The  litter  and  its  runners,  however,  returned  during  the 
king's  sleep,  but,  repulsed  by  the  power  of  the  amulets, 
they  retraced  their  steps  empty-handed  to  him  who  had 
breathed  life  into  them.  Horus,  son  of  Panashi,  en- 
couraged by  this  result,  determined  to  use  Thot's  book, 
and,  without  delay,  to  play  off  on  his  adversaries  the 
same  trick.  He,  too,  modelled  a  litter  and  runners  in 
wax,  sent  them  to  the  Viceroy  of  Ethiopia,  and,  when 
they  had  delivered  him  into  his  power,  he  thrashed  him 
soundly,  giving  him  500  blows  of  the  stick,  the  same 
number  as  Siamon  had  received.  Horus,  son  of  the 


A    NEW   EGYPTIAN    TALE  187 

negress,  guessed  from  this  vigorous  reply  that  his  col- 
league had  entered  into  the  campaign,  but  he  felt  too 
weak  to  triumph  over  such  a  strong  adversary.  He  had 
recourse  to  his  mother,  the  negress,  who  was  more  skilful 
than  he  was,  and  he  told  her  of  his  intention  to  go  to 
Egypt  in  disguise,  and  try  and  surprise  Horus,  son  of 
Panashi.  He  was  unmasked  immediately  on  his  arrival, 
and  was  about  to  succumb  when  his  mother  came  to  his 
rescue  in  an  air-ship ;  she  was  conquered  in  her  turn,  but 
Horus,  son  of  Panashi,  was  too  generous,  and  spared 
both  their  lives  on  condition  that  they  would  exile  them- 
selves from  Egypt  for  1,500  years.  So  far,  Si-Osiri 
had  confined  himself  to  take  the  messenger  for  witness 
as  to  the  veracity  of  his  words.  Suddenly  he  left  off 
reading,  and,  addressing  Ousimares,  said  :  "  He  who  is 
before  you  is  Horus,  son  of  the  negress,  the  man  whose 
story  I  have  read  to  you,  and  who  returns  to  Egypt  after 
the  fifteen  centuries  have  passed,  to  try  and  humiliate  you. 
I  am  Horus,  son  of  Panashi.  Foreseeing  that  at  this 
time  there  would  be  no  scribe  in  Egypt  capable  of  resist- 
ing him,  I  begged  Osiris  to  let  me  come  forth  to  the 
world  again ;  I  have  done  so  as  the  supposed  son  of 
Satni-Khamois."  By  a  last  effort  of  magic  he  lighted 
a  brazier  in  the  centre  of  the  courtyard,  and  burned 
Horus,  son  of  the  negress,  in  it,  after  which  he 
swooned,  and  was  seen  no  more. 

Such  is  the  novel.  If  we  desire  to  analyze  it,  it  may 
be  easily  divided  into  two  distinct  tales.  The  second, 
which  treats  of  the  struggle  of  the  two  sorcerers,  contains 
the  ordinary  incidents  of  such  combats  in  the  Arabian 
Nights:  the  abduction  of  the  hero  or  heroine,  and  their 
return  to  the  place  they  were  taken  from  in  a  few  hours, 
the  statuettes  animated  by  magic  arts,  the  defeat  of 
Moghrebin,  and  the  intervention  of  his  mother,  the  de- 
struction of  the  miscreant  by  fire,  after  which  the  good 
genius  disappears,  or  dies,  exhausted  by  his  victory. 


188     NEW   LIGHT   ON   ANCIENT   EGYPT 

The  first  tale  is  a  sort  of  new  version  of  the  parable  of 
Lazarus  and  of  the  wicked  rich  man,  serving  as  a  setting 
to  a  sketch  of  heathen  revelation.  The  episode  of  a 
descent  into  Hades  of  a  living  person  was  old  among 
the  Egyptians,  and  a  story,  too  briefly  told  by  Herodotus, 
had  already  applied  it  to  the  fabulous  Rhampsinitus.1 
Griffith  has  confined  himself  to  translating  his  manu- 
script, without  trying  to  distinguish  the  ideas  that 
form  its  woof.  They  are  mostly  of  native  growth,  but 
Graeco-Roman  Egypt  had  been  subjected  to  so  many 
foreign  influences  that  the  Egyptian  appearance  may,  in 
places,  hide  some  foundation  of  foreign  ideas.  We  may 
perhaps  find  some  day  a  residue  of  Hellenic  or  Jewish 
ideas  in  the  second  tale  of  Satni-Khamois. 

1  Herodotus^  II,  cxxii. 


AMENOTHKS  SON  OF  PAAPIS,  A  STATUE  FROM  KARNAK  IN  THE  CAIRO  MUSEUM. 


e  page  i8«. 


XXV 

HOW  AN  EGYPTIAN  STATESMAN  BECAME  A  GOD 

ABOUT  the  middle  of  the  fifteenth  century  B.C.,  in  the 
reign  of  Thoutmosis  III,  a  certain  scribe  of  lowly  birth, 
who  had  settled  in  the  city  of  Athribis  in  the  Delta, 
had  a  son  named  Amenothes.  We  do  not  know  by  what 
strokes  of  fortune  the  child  emerged  from  the  obscure 
rank  to  which  he  belonged  by  birth,  and  gradually  rose 
to  the  highest  places  in  the  state;  he  only  appears  on 
the  monuments  after  he  had  become  old,  and  was  in 
possession  of  Amenothes  Ill's  entire  confidence.  He 
held  the  administration  of  justice  and  of  the  army  in  his 
hands,  and  only  the  king  and  the  members  of  the  royal 
family  were  greater  than  he.  He  reorganized  the 
finances,  which  had  suffered  from  the  neglect  of  the 
ministers  who  preceded  him.  He  restored  order  in 
military  affairs,  increased  the  fleet,  built  temples,  pre- 
sided over  the  works  of  his  master,  and  it  was  he,  per- 
haps, who  erected  the  celebrated  Colossi  of  Memnon  at 
Thebes.  He  advanced  so  high  in  favour  that  his  master 
authorized  him  to  consecrate  statues  to  himself  in  the 
sanctuary  of  Amon,  lord  of  Karnak.  We  possess  four 
of  these,  each  representing  him  in  different  attitudes. 
One  that  has  just  been  brought  to  light  by  Legrain, 
ranks  as  a  masterpiece  of  Theban  sculpture.  It  repre- 
sents him  with  his  face  worn  by  age,  and  the  inscription 
informs  us  of  the  good  opinion  he  had  of  himself.  "  I 
came  to  thee,"  he  said  to  Amon,  "  to  beseech  thee  in  thy 
temple,  for  thou  art  lord  of  what  there  is  under  heaven, 

189 


igo     NEW   LIGHT   ON   ANCIENT   EGYPT 

thou  art  the  god  of  human  beings  :  what  there  is  in 
heaven  invokes  thy  magnificence,  and  thou  hearest  that 
appeal,  thou  art  the  Sun-god  incomparable.  Thou 
grantest  to  me  to  be  among  the  elect  who  act  in  accord- 
ance with  the  truth,  and  I  am  a  just  man,  I  commit  no 
sin.  ...  I  do  not  take  him  who  lives  by  his  toil  to 
labour  in  the  public  works;  when  a  man  is  summoned 
before  me,  I  listen  to  what  he  has  to  say,  I  do  not  yield, 
I  lend  myself  to  no  falsehood  which  would  lead  to 
despoiling  another  of  his  property.  It  is  my  virtue  that 
justifies  the  honours  bestowed  on  me,  and  which  is  clear 
to  the  sight  of  all;  has  any  one  ever  been  seen  who 
is  supplicated  as  I  am  on  account  of  the  vastness  of 
the  property  that  has  come  to  me,  which  testifies  that 
I  am  just  in  my  old  age  ?  I  have  attained  the  age  of 
eighty  in  the  favour  of  the  king,  and  I  shall  live  to 
be  a  hundred  and  ten  !" 

It  is  not  known  if  he  lived  so  long,  and  it  is  scarcely 
probable,  but  posterity  reserved  privileges  for  him 
superior  even  to  those  bestowed  on  him  by  his  contem- 
poraries. The  statues  of  him  seen  in  many  places  in 
the  temple,  the  panegyrical  inscriptions  on  most  of  them, 
accounts  of  him  transmitted  orally,  all  circumstances, 
indeed,  contributed  to  perpetuate  his  memory,  not  only 
with  the  priests  or  the  educated  classes,  but  also  with 
the  common  people  of  Thebes.  At  that  time  magic 
was  one  of  the  most  respected  of  the  sciences,  and  no 
one  was  considered  perfect  if  he  did  not  combine  the 
reputation  of  a  skilled  sorcerer  with  his  abilities  as 
statesman  or  administrator.  One  of  the  sons  of  Ramses 
II,  who  filled  the  place  of  regent  with  distinction  for  more 
than  twenty  years  in  the  last  half  of  his  father's  reign, 
owed  the  fact  that  he  was  not  forgotten  almost  im- 
mediately after  his  death  to  his  reputation  as  a  sorcerer. 
The  magician  Khamois  saved  the  memory  of  the  regent 
Kh&mois,  and  kept  it  fresh  until  the  first  century  of  the 


AN   EGYPTIAN   STATESMAN  191 

Roman  Empire.1  Amenothes  similarly  escaped  oblivion, 
thanks  to  the  fame  he  acquired  through  his  talent  as  a 
magician.  Did  he  actually  write  books  of  magic?  A 
long  magic  writing  is  found  in  certain  papyri,  and  the 
copyists  attribute  its  authorship  to  him.  As  a  matter 
of  fact  it  is  pure  nonsense  to  us,  but  the  Egyptians 
thought  it  very  fine  and  felt  profound  admiration  for 
the  presumed  author.  It  was  not  given  to  everybody 
to  find  words  which  compelled  gods  to  submit  to  the 
human  will,  and  it  was  said  that  the  formulas  of  Amen- 
6thes  had  never  failed  in  their  effect;  the  name  of 
Amenothes  was,  therefore,  inscribed  in  the  registers  of 
the  temples  by  the  side  of  those  of  Imouthes,  of  Didou- 
fhor  and  of  the  magicians  whom  Hermes,  the  thrice 
great,  had  most  generally  favoured  with  his  inspirations. 
He  became  the  hero  of  a  large  number  of  legends,  which 
were  passed  from  mouth  to  mouth,  the  greater  number 
of  which  are  lost.  One  alone  remains  in  two  versions 
to  show  us  what  the  others  were  like. 

Manetho,  the  national  historian,  inserted  it  in  his 
chronicles.  He  related  that  the  Pharaoh  Amenophis, 
desiring  to  see  the  gods  face  to  face,  as  his  predecessor 
Horos  had  done,  applied  to  the  most  celebrated  seer  of 
his  day,  Amenophis  or  Amenothe's,  son  of  Paapis.  He 
revealed  to  him  that  he  would  be  happy  and  would  make 
Egypt  happy  if  he  delivered  the  land  from  the  impure 
strangers  encamped  there.  Pharaoh  assembled  them  to 
the  number  of  80,000,  first  in  the  stone-pits  of  Tourah, 
and  then  in  the  ruins  of  Avaris,  which  had  been  deserted 
since  the  expulsion  of  the  Shepherds.  He  thus  drew 
down  unprecedented  misfortunes  on  himself  and  his 
kingdom.  The  seer  had,  in  fact,  dissimulated  a  portion 
of  the  divine  will ;  the  Impure  would  summon  the  exiled 
Shepherds  to  their  aid,  and  together  they  would  occupy 
Egypt  for  thirteen  years,  at  the  end  of  which  period 
1  Cf.  Chapter  XXIV. 


i92     NEW   LIGHT    ON   ANCIENT   EGYPT 

they  would  be  conquered.  Feeling  that  the  accomplish- 
ment of  fate  was  imminent,  he  informed  the  sovereign 
in  writing,  and  killed  himself.  Things  happened  as  he 
had  predicted.  The  Impure,  allied  with  the  Shepherds, 
took  possession  of  the  whole  of  Egypt,  and  Pharaoh, 
having  taken  refuge  in  Ethiopia,  did  not  reconquer  his 
kingdom  until  thirteen  years  had  passed.  Manetho 
confused  this  Egyptian  tale  with  the  Hebraic  traditions, 
and  attached  the  adventures  of  Amenophis,  son  of 
Paapis,  to  the  narrative  of  the  Exodus.  A  Greek 
papyrus  of  the  Ptolemaic  epoch  has  preserved  the  pro- 
phecy in  a  form  nearer  the  Egyptian  original.  We  read 
there  that  Amenophis  was  a  potter  renowned  for  his 
wisdom.  One  day  a  spirit  from  on  high  entered  into 
him  and  he  uttered  a  long  oration  in  which  he  predicted 
all  sorts  of  evils  to  Egypt,  followed  by  a  time  of  pros- 
perity, the  like  of  which  had  never  been  seen  since  the 
time  of  Osiris  and  of  Isis.  The  king,  Amenophis,  to 
whom  this  was  told,  wished  to  hear  it  from  the  mouth  of 
the  seer  himself,  who  repeated  the  words,  and  then  fell 
down  dead.  It  is  the  same  plot  as  Manetho  used  but 
freer,  and  unconnected  with  the  history  of  the  Hebrews. 

The  statues  set  up  in  the  temples  in  honour  of  kings 
or  individuals,  according  to  Egyptian  belief,  were  not 
inanimate  images  solely  commissioned  to  eternize  the 
features  of  this  or  that  person.  They  were  imperishable 
bodies  to  which  a  soul,  or  at  least  a  double,  was  attached. 
When  they  were  put  into  their  place,  the  priest  held  a 
service  over  them,  by  virtue  of  which  a  particle  of  the 
life  of  the  donor  was  infused  into  them,  and  never  more 
abandoned  them.  They  were  metamorphosed  into  pro- 
phetic idols  to  whom  recourse  was  had  to  learn  the 
future,  and  they  were  worshipped  in  a  fashion  that 
brought  them  very  near  to  the  divine  idols.  Those 
whose  portraits  they  represented,  if  they  did  not  become 
immortals  of  high  rank,  at  least  left  humanity  to  join 


AN   EGYPTIAN   STATESMAN  193 

the  company  of  the  gods.  Amenothes,  son  of  Paapis, 
belonged  in  his  lifetime  to  the  class  above  the  human, 
and  in  the  inscription  I  have  translated  he  boasts  of  it 
as  a  privilege  accorded  to  none  but  himself.  As  the 
centuries  progressed,  the  honours  which  had  been  heaped 
on  him,  far  from  falling  into  desuetude,  as  is  often  the 
case  with  heroes  of  that  sort,  increased  out  of  all  pro- 
portion. Did  he  really  found  the  Chapel  of  Hathor,  now 
called  Deir  el  Medineh  ?  It  was  so  believed  in  the 
Thebes  of  the  Ptolemies,  and  he  was  associated  with  the 
sacrifices  made  there  to  the  goddess  in  concert  with  other 
divinities.  We  do  not  know  why  he  was  associated  at 
the  same  epoch  with  the  Theban  Phtah;  but  he  was 
installed  in  his  temple  and  there  foretold  the  future. 
From  this  time,  then,  he  was  fully  a  god,  and  not  one  of 
the  least  among  those  revered  at  Thebes.  Like  Amon, 
like  Khonsou,  like  Maout,  he  had  two  sanctuaries  at  his 
disposal,  one  at  Karnak  in  the  town  of  the  living  where 
his  double  and  his  living  statues  resided,  the  other  in 
the  necropolis  where  his  dead  statue  received  the  honours 
due  to  the  souls  of  the  dead.  It  was  to  Karnak  that 
people  went  to  consult  his  oracle.  The  priests,  after 
interrogating  his  image,  replied  for  him,  and  the  wonder- 
ing believers  did  not  omit  to  engrave  some  votive  picture 
or  inscription  in  sign  of  gratitude  on  one  of  the  non- 
decorated  outer  walls.  Like  Amon,  Amenothes,  son 
of  Paapis,  had  his  devotees  in  the  ruined  Thebes  of 
the  last  Ptolemies,  and  of  the  earliest  Roman  Emperors. 
It  is  not  a  usual  circumstance  for  a  simple  mortal,  even 
though  he  be  a  king's  minister,  to  become  a  god.  In 
the  whole  of  Egyptian  antiquity  we  find  only  two  or  three 
to  whom  it  happened.  The  example  of  Ameriothes, 
however,  is  sufficient  to  prove  that  the  Egyptians  did 
not  believe  it  impossible  for  man  to  manufacture  gods. 
The  case  of  the  Pha-raohs  does  not  apply,  for  in  their 
eyes  the  Pharaohs  were  not  actual  men ;  they  were  rather 
13 


194     NEW   LIGHT   ON   ANCIENT   EGYPT 

gods  incarnated  in  human  bodies,  the  direct  descendants 
of  Horus,  Ra,  or  Amon;  and  when  they  died,  by  a 
law  of  nature  they  returned  to  their  primitive  condition. 
For  an  Amenothes,  son  of  Paapis,  or  for  any  other 
individual,  not  of  the  royal  blood,  things  were  very 
different.  In  that  case  the  subject  to  be  made  divine 
was  an  actual  man,  in  the  birth  of  whom  no  divinity 
had  had  even  the  smallest  part. 

Material  for  a  divine  soul  had  to  be  extracted  from  a 
common  soul,  and  the  process  is  not  easy  to  explain. 
It  was  accomplished,  however,  and  seemed  to  be  con- 
nected in  a  sufficiently  direct  manner  with  the  ideas  held 
about  the  man  and  his  after  life  on  the  one  hand,  and 
those  held  about  the  gods  and  their  nature  on  the  other. 
Man  has  no  right  to  immortality,  and  the  part  of  him 
that  survives,  called  soul  or  double,  is  only  perpetuated 
on  condition  of  being  continually  nourished  and 
refreshed.  Supported  by  the  worship  of  posterity,  it 
can  postpone  infinitely  the  moment  of  annihilation.  The 
gods  themselves,  so  to  speak,  are  only  sublimated  men  : 
their  substance  is  finer,  their  virtues  stronger,  their 
sensations  keener,  and  their  existence  more  prolonged, 
but  they  are  subject  to  human  infirmities,  to  disease,  to 
old  age  and  to  death.  Amon  was  dead,  Ra  was  dead, 
Phtah  was  dead,  Osiris  was  dead;  but  they  had  been 
brought  back  to  conscious  life  by  the  magical  conjura- 
tions of  their  children  and  their  wives,  and  provided  that 
the  usual  liturgies  were  observed  with  regard  to  them, 
there  was  no  reason  why  they  should  not  persist  from 
century  to  century.  The  difference,  then,  between 
humanity  and  divinity  was  not  a  difference  in  essence 
but  of  degree  in  essence,  and  there  was  nothing  to  pre- 
vent the  elements  of  humanity  being  sufficiently 
strengthened  to  become  identical  with  those  of  divinity. 

It  was  known  that  men  by  means  of  formulas  and 
magic  could  command  gods,  and  impose  on  them  the 


AN   EGYPTIAN  STATESMAN  195 

domination  of  their  creatures.1  Let  us  imagine  the 
double  of  one  of  those  magicians  transported  into  Hades, 
and  there  preserving  his  skill.  As  he  had  done  on  earth, 
he  would  compel  the  gods  to  obey  him  blindly,  and,  if 
he  so  pleased,  would  declare  his  will  to  mortals  with 
an  authority  that  could  not  be  distinguished  from  that 
of  the  gods.  If  posterity  continued  such  abundant 
offerings  in  his  honour  that  his  existence  was  as  assured 
as  that  of  the  gods,  there  would  be  no  distinction  between 
him  and  them  except  that  of  birth,  and  in  very  truth 
mortals  would  have  fabricated  a  new  immortal.  That 
is  what  happened  in  the  case  of  Amenothes,  son  of 
Paapis.  His  magic  gave  him  power  over  the  gods,  and 
allowed  him  to  realize  by  their  intervention  all  the 
miracles  they  worked  themselves.  The  Pharaoh, 
Amen6thes  III,  in  erecting  numerous  statues  to  him  in 
the  temple  of  Karnak,  and  in  instituting  worship  of  him, 
guaranteed  him  the  resources  necessary  to  prevent  his 
annihilation  after  death.  It  was  therefore  given  to  him 
to  practise  his  prophetic  and  beneficent  virtues  long  after 
he  had  vanished  from  the  earth.  The  votive  offerings 
lavished  on  him  by  the  people  increased  his  wealth,  and 
at  the  same  time  increased  his  powers  and  his  chances 
of  immortality.  He  was  prepared  to  become  god  by  his 
skill  in  magic,  and  by  the  consecration  of  his  own 
images;  the  piety  of  his  devotees  progressively  com- 
pleted the  metamorphosis,  and  ended  by  making  him 
wholly  a  god. 

1  Cf.  Chapter  XIV. 


XXVI 

EGYPTIAN    FORMULAS    FOR    THE   PROTECTION    OF    CHILDREN 

IN  the  Egyptian  creed  the  beings  we  perceive  around 
us  are  only  the  smallest  part  of  the  inhabitants  of  the 
universe.  The  earth,  the  waters,  the  mountains,  the 
woods,  the  air,  are  full  of  forces  and  persons,  who, 
although  usually  unfelt  and  unseen,  are  not  less  active 
among  us.  The  living  mingle  with  them  without  know- 
ing it,  knock  up  against  them,  repel  them,  summon  them, 
sometimes  to  receive  benefits  from  them,  sometimes  to 
undergo  their  evil  influence.  Many  of  them  are  semi- 
divinities,  or  genii,  who  have  never  lived  in  human  form ; 
others  are  disembodied  souls,  wandering  doubles,  or  dis- 
contented shades,  whose  condition  beyond  the  tomb  has 
not  preserved  any  of  the  advantages  they  enjoyed  in  their 
earthly  existence,  and  whose  poverty  enrages  them 
against  the  present  generations.  They  were  angry  that 
those  who  now  occupied  their  places  should  abandon 
them,  as  they  themselves  had  abandoned  those  who  pre- 
ceded them,  and  they  sought  to  revenge  themselves  for 
their  negligence  by  attacking  them  without  their  know- 
ledge. They  prowled  about  the  towns  and  the  country 
day  and  night,  patiently  seeking  a  victim,  and,  directly 
they  found  him,  took  possession  of  him  by  one  of  the 
means  at  their  disposal.  They  beat  him  with  their  in- 
visible hands,  they  made  incisions  in  the  chest,  they 
sucked  his  blood  during  his  sleep,  they  slipped  into  him 
through  the  ears,  nose,  or  mouth.  The  greater  part  of 
the  physical  ills  commonly  called  diseases  are  their 
v/ork;  they  must  be  forced  to  desist  by  exorcism,  or  by 

196 


PROTECTION   OF   CHILDREN  197 

charms,  before  administering  the  remedies  that  annul  the 
effects  of  their  presence,  or,  better  still,  their  assaults 
must  be  prevented  by  the  possession  of  amulets  or  form- 
ulas which  defy  their  fury.  All  human  beings  whose 
natural  weakness  more  particularly  exposes  them  to  their 
malice,  women  with  child,  women  after  delivery,  new- 
born infants,  needed  to  be  specially  protected,  and  it  was 
to  provide  such  with  weapons  that  an  unknown  scribe 
wrote  down  the  two  collections  of  incantations  of  which 
Erman  has  just  published  a  translation.1 

The  text  has  one  advantage  over  the  greater  number 
of  those  we  so  far  possess,  in  that  it  brings  on  the  scene 
the  beings  against  whom  the  incantations  are  directed. 
It  shows  us  the  ghosts  in  action,  and  we  see  them  in 
imagination  as  the  Egyptian  mothers  or  nurses  described 
them  to  children.  "Avaunt,"  said  one  of  them  to  the 
spectre,  "  ye  dead  man,  who  comes  in  the  darkness,  who 
enters  stealthily,  with  nose  behind,  face  obverse,  avaunt, 
frustrated  of  what  ye  have  come  for !  Avaunt,  ye  dead 
woman,  who  comes  in  darkness,  who  enters  stealthily, 
nose  behind,  face  obverse,  avaunt,  frustrated  of  what 
ye  have  come  for !  If  ye  are  come  to  kiss  this  child, 
I  shall  not  allow  you  to  kiss  it !  If  ye  are  come  to 
still  its  crying,  I  shall  not  allow  you  to  still  it !  If 
ye  are  come  to  injure  it,  I  shall  not  allow  you  to  injure 
it !  If  ye  are  come  to  take  it  away,  I  shall  not  allow 
you  to  take  it  from  me  !  I  have  made  for  it  a  charm 
against  you  with  the  lettuce  that  pricks,  with  the  garlic 
which  is  harmful,  with  honey  liked  by  the  living,  but 
hated  by  the  dead,  with  the  bones  of  the  mormyrus,  with 
a  bundle  of  tow,  with  the  backbone  of  a  latus  !"  Nurses 
and  mothers  must  often  have  threatened  their  refractory 
children  with  this  horrible  phantom,  and  \ve  must  never 
have  had  a  nurse,  or  never  have  heard  similar  tales 

1  A.  Erman,  Zaubersprtiche  fiir  Mutter  und  Kind^  aus  dem  Papyros 
3027  des  Berliner  Museums,  Berlin.  1901. 


ig8     NEW   LIGHT   ON   ANCIENT   EGYPT 

when  we  were  little,  not  to  imagine  the  terror  of  the 
unfortunate  Egyptian  babies  who,  waking  up  in  the 
middle  of  the  night,  thought  they  felt  some  mysterious 
presence  moving  in  the  darkness.  It  was  it;  it  came, 
gliding  noiselessly  like  a  thief,  turning  aside  its  face, 
rendered  fleshless  by  the  process  of  mummification,  with 
the  snub  nose  flattened  by  the  pressure  of  the  wrappings, 
so  as  not  to  betray  itself  just  at  first.  It  stretched  its 
cunning  head  out  to  kiss — the  Egyptian  text  says  to 
smell — the  unhappy  infant,  and  to  suck  away  its  life, 
or,  if  it  cried,  to  rock  it  to  the  sleep  that  knows  no 
waking.  Maybe,  it  would  take  hold  of  the  child  with  its 
dry  hands,  and  bruise  it,  or  carry  it  off  to  be  devoured 
at  leisure  in  a  tomb.  The  child  would  die  from  fright 
in  its  bed  if  it  had  not  confidence  in  the  talisman 
he  wore  at  his  neck,  in  which  some  good  woman  had 
placed  substances,  plants,  honey,  fish-bones,  abhorred 
by  evil  spirits.  We  act  in  the  same  way  in  the  country 
districts  of  France,  and  if  our  ghosts  possess  wicked 
instincts  similar  to  those  of  the  defunct  Egyptians,  they 
are  equally  subject  to  the  same  natural  antipathies  of 
which  our  sorcerers,  like  those  of  ancient  times,  make 
use  to  baffle  their  wicked  purposes. 

It  must  be  confessed,  however,  that,  to  the  shame  of 
the  Egyptian  spectres,  they  did  not  confine  themselves 
to  working  their  evil  deeds  during  the  night.  Spectres  of 
modern  times  usually  vanish  or  lose  their  power  at  cock- 
crow, but  the  Egyptian  species  continued  their  evil  prac- 
tices in  the  full  light  of  day.  Egyptian  theology  wished 
it  to  be  so,  for  it  assigned  to  the  soul,  as  the  height  of 
felicity,  the  faculty  of  leaving  at  will  during  the  day  the 
darkness  of  the  tomb;  and  the  wicked  soul  enjoyed  the 
same  privileges  as  the  good  and  beneficent  soul.  There 
was  thus  no  truce  in  the  war  waged  by  the  specfres 
against  mankind,  and  it  was  as  necessary  to  be  on  the 
defensive  at  midday  as  at  midnight.  Every  morning 


PROTECTION   OF   CHILDREN  199 

and  every  evening  a  formula  was  repeated  over  the  child 
which  rendered  it  immune  for  the  twelve  hours  of  light 
and  the  twelve  hours  of  darkness.  In  the  former  it  was 
the  sun,  the  watchful  eye  of  the  world,  who  was  re- 
quested to  preside  over  the  defence.  "  Thou  arisest,  O 
god  Shou ;  thou  arisest,  O  god  Ra !  If  thou  seest  the 
dead  man  coming  against  such  a  one,  born  of  such  a  one, 
or  the  dead  woman,  the  woman  harmful  wherever  she 
is  found,  meditating  some  plot,  do  not  permit  her  to 
take  the  child  in  her  arms."  "  My  master  Ra  has 
saved  me,"  the  mother  then  said;  "  I  will  not  give  you, 
my  child,  I  will  not  give  you  to  the  thief  from  hell ;  but 
the  hand  drawn  on  the  gem  of  this  ring  is  a  charm  for 
you,  and  I  shall  keep  you  !"  In  order  that  the  exorcisms 
should  work,  it  was  uttered  over  an  amulet,  afterwards 
fastened  round  the  child's  neck.  In  this  case  it  was  the 
gem  of  a  ring  on  which  a  man's  hand  was  engraved;  it 
was  threaded  on  a  cord  and  tied  with  one  knot  every 
morning  and  one  knot  every  evening,  until  there  were 
seven  knots.  In  all  the  museums  are  scarabs,  or 
disks  of  hard  stone  on  which  an  open  hand  may  be 
seen,  the  fingers  stretched  out  and  held  close  against 
each  other,  but  we  did  not  know  the  meaning  of  the 
emblem;  we  know  now  that  it  protected  little  children 
against  ghosts  of  dead  men  and  women  who  walk 
at  midday.  The  formula  repeated  in  the  evening  in 
tying  the  knot  differed  from  the  other  only  in  a  few 
words;  instead  of  addressing  the  rising  sun,  the  sun 
which  sets  in  the  country  of  Life  was  invoked.1  Like  all 
the  customary  daily  prayers,  it  ended  by  becoming  so 
familiar  to  the  Egyptians  that  they  came  to  repeat  it 
without  attaching  precise  meaning  to  each  word.  Pro- 
vided that  the  sound  remained  the  same,  they  troubled 

1  "  The  Country  of  Life "  was  an  euphemism  for  the  West,  the 
region  to  which  the  dead  repaired  when  they  left  their  earthly 
existence. 


200     NEW   LIGHT   ON   ANCIENT   EGYPT 

little  to  repeat  the  exact  terms.  Thus  the  text  is  very 
corrupt,  and  Erman  would  not  have  been  able  wholly 
to  restore  it  had  it  not  been  transcribed  four  times  follow- 
ing in  his  manuscript.  How  many  of  our  popular 
formulas  have  become  mere  incomprehensible  jargon  by 
the  same  process  of  deformation  ! 

Some  children  were  in  greater  danger  than  others,  and 
required  a  more  careful  protection  if  they  were  to  be  put 
out  of  reach  of  harm.  It  is  known  what  a  horror  the 
population  of  many  nomes  had  of  men  or  animals  of  a 
red  colour.  They  cut  their  throats,  or  burned  them,  in 
order  to  turn  aside  the  wrath  of  the  Osirian  gods.  Even 
where  the  hatred  was  less  violent  they  were  considered 
different  from  other  individuals  of  the  race;  was  not 
Set-Typhon,  the  murderer  of  Osiris,  red-haired !  If, 
then,  a  child  was  born  with  red  hair,  or  if  he  had  a  red- 
haired  mother,  special  precaution  was  taken  to  prevent 
Typhon  seizing  him  as  his  property,  or  the  spectres, 
Typhon's  subjects,  laying  hand  on  his  person.  Then  the 
"  formula  of  the  red-haired  woman  who  had  given  birth 
to  a  form  "  had  to  be  repeated.  The  scribe  did  not  dare 
to  say  "  who  had  given  birth  to  a  child,"  for  a  Typho- 
nian  being  might  issue  from  a  Typhonian  mother,  and 
the  new-born  infant  be  only  a  form  of  the  cursed  one. 
They  also  tried  to  procure  him  the  support  of  the  gods 
hostile  to  those  whose  mark  he  bore,  Isis  and  Nephthys, 
the  two  sisters  of  Osiris.  "  Greeting  to  you,  Isis  has 
twisted,  Nephthys  has  smoothed  the  sacred  thread  with 
the  seven  knots  with  which  I  protect  thee,  O  healthy  child 
of  such  a  one,  so  that  you  may  be  healthy  and  prosper- 
ous, so  that  you  may  be  in  favour  with  all  the  gods  and 
all  the  goddesses,  so  that  every  foe,  male  or  female,  who 
attacks  you,  may  be  defeated,  so  that  the  mouth  of  any 
one  who  makes  incantations  against  you  may  be  closed, 
as  the  lips  of  the  seventy-seven  asses  which  are  at  the 
lake  of  Dasdes  were  sealed;  I  know  them,  I  know  their 


PROTECTION   OF   CHILDREN  201 

names,  but  he  who  does  not  know  them,  and  who  wishes 
to  injure  this  child,  may  he  suffer  by  them,  and  that 
swiftly."  The  amulet  itself  had  to  be  made  of  seven 
round  porphyry  beads,  of  seven  gold  beads,  of  seven 
sprigs  of  flax  twisted  by  two  sisters  who  are  mothers,  of 
whom  one  rolled  and  the  other  smoothed.  A  charm  of 
seven  knots  must  be  made  of  the  whole,  over  which  the 
prayer  was  repeated  four  times,  and  then  it  was  tied 
round  the  child's  neck.  The  two  Osirian  goddesses  were 
summoned  to  the  help  of  the  Typhonian  baby,  and  they 
were  represented  at  the  time  of  the  manufacture  of  the 
amulet  by  two  sisters,  both  mothers.  They  prepared  for 
the  little  mortal  the  same  charm  that  had  been  invented 
for  the  young  Horus  when  he  was  pursued  by  Typhon, 
and  henceforth  neither  phantoms  nor  enchanters  would 
have  any  power  over  him.  Not  only  were  their  lips 
sealed  like  those  of  the  seventy-seven  asses,  agents  of  the 
evil  spirit  that  the  Sun  conquered  every  day  when  he 
traversed  the  lake  of  Dasdes  where  they  dwelt;  but  if 
they  attempted  in  spite  of  all  to  injure  the  child,  the  asses 
would  turn  against  them  and  tear  them  to  pieces.  If 
after  that  any  accident  happened  to  the  child,  magic 
must  be  despaired  of. 

All  the  passages  in  the  collection  are  not  as  clear  as 
those  of  which  I  have  just  given  the  text  and  a  brief 
commentary.  Sometimes  lacunae  occur,  which  we  can, 
not  fill  up  in  a  satisfactory  fashion ;  sometimes  the  ideas 
and  allusions  are  very  obscure  and  puzzling.  In  many 
cases  the  uncertainty  which  Erman  has  not  been  able  to 
avoid  is  due  to  the  fact  that  for  the  explaining  of  the 
text  he  has  depended  solely  on  the  text  itself ;  he  has  not 
sought  the  meaning  in  traditions  or  in  foreign  supersti- 
tions. I  think  that  in  such  matters  comparison  with 
what  has  been  elsewhere  observed  is  the  surest  method  of 
arriving  at  a  definitive  explanation.  All  ancient  peoples 
conceived  the  relations  between  man  and  the  invisible 


202     NEW   LIGHT   ON  ANCIENT   EGYPT 

world  in  almost  the  same  way,  and  the  conclusions  they 
deduced  from  their  concepts  have  led  to  the  same 
practices.  It  is  scarcely  necessary  to  recall  with  what 
tenacity  they  have  been  preserved  down  to  our  time. 
Examples  may  still  be  found  in  many  parts  of  France  or 
Germany,  the  equivalents  of  which  are  described  in  the 
old  books  that  come  to  us  from  Egypt  or  Chaldaea. 
When  the  papyri  contain  formulas  and  rites  that  seem 
incomprehensible,  it  is  always  worth  while  to  see  if  the 
study  of  modern  superstitions  would  not  help  us  out  of 
the  difficulty;  very  often,  here  as  elsewhere,  the  present 
would  complete  the  past,  and  allow  us  to  interpret  the 
latter  with  certainty. 


XXVII 

CONCERNING  A   FRAGMENT  OF   OLD  EGYPTIAN  ANNALS 

WHEN  for  the  first  time  we  go  over  the  interminable 
list  of  semi-barbarous  names  with  which  the  canon  of 
the  Egyptian  kings  commences,  the  Menes,  Athotis, 
Miebai's,  Semempses,  we  ask  ourselves  what  documents 
the  scribes  who  drew  it  up  possessed,  and  if  they  did 
not  invent  the  beginnings  of  their  national  history.  The 
length  of  the  reigns  attributed  to  the  early  Pharaohs,  and 
the  nature  of  the  events  supposed  to  have  happened  in 
their  time,  confirm  that  impression.  Menes  was  torn  to 
pieces  by  a  hippopotamus,  Athotis  built  the  palace  of 
Memphis  and  wrote  works  on  anatomy.  There  was  a 
famine  under  Ouenephes,  a  plague  under  Semempses, 
and  the  Nile  flowed  with  honey  for  eleven  days  under 
Neferkeres,  and  Sesochris  was  of  remarkable  stature, 
five  cubits  in  height  and  three  hands  in  breadth.  There 
is  nothing  there  calculated  to  inspire  confidence,  and 
we  naturally  say  that  the  early  Egyptian  Dynasties  have 
decidedly  little  connection  with  authentic  history. 

The  discoveries  of  these  last  years  prove  that  we  are 
wrong  to  judge  so.  Not  only  did  the  old  Pharaohs  exist, 
but  they  have  left  monuments,  and  it  is  in  accordance 
with  the  monuments  that  the  most  ancient  annalists  com- 
piled the  lists  that  the  scribes  of  the  epoch  of  the  Ramses 
and  of  the  Greek  epoch,  Manetho  like  the  rest,  have 
transmitted  to  us  in  so  incomplete  a  fashion.  According 
to  a  custom  that  then  prevailed  in  the  East,  in  order  to 
distinguish  the  years  of  a  sovereign  one  from  the  other, 
they  were  marked  by  the  mention  of  one  of  the  principal 

events  which  occurred   in  them.     The  nations  on  the 

203 


204     NEW   LIGHT   ON   ANCIENT   EGYPT 

banks  of  the  Euphrates  dated  official  acts  from  the  year 
in  which  Boursin,  the  king,  destroyed  the  town  of  Our- 
billoum,  or  that  in  which  Sinmouballit  cleaned  out  and 
enlarged  the  royal  canal.  Similarly  we  find  in  Egypt, 
under  the  Pharaoh  Boethos,  a  year  of  fighting  and  con- 
quering the  peoples  of  the  North,  and  under  Semempses 
a  year  of  following  the  procession  of  Horus  and  his  boat. 
Such  a  method  is  not  entirely  unknown  in  our  day.  In 
the  lives  of  the  peasants  a  hailstorm  that  damaged  the 
crops,  a  flood,  the  death  of  a  horse  or  a  cow,  the  fall  of 
a  tree,  become  landmarks  of  which  they  make  a  sufficient 
chronology  for  their  family.  Confusion  would,  however, 
soon  enter  the  memories  of  each  generation,  becoming 
inextricable  as  time  went  on,  if  they  had  not  carefully 
classified  the  appellations  given  to  the  years  during  the 
reigns.  Both  the  Egyptian  and  Chaldasan  scribes  were 
accustomed  to  keep  registers  in  which  they  were  collected, 
and  inscribed  them  in  the  same  order  as  they  occurred. 
The  registers,  deposited  in  the  libraries  of  temples  and 
palaces,  in  time  constituted  real  annals  in  which  with  a 
little  attention  we  could  learn  not  only  the  names  of  the 
Pharaohs  and  their  successors,  but  the  number  of  years 
and  even  of  the  months  and  days  they  had  been  on  the 
throne,  with  a  summary  indication  of  a  portion  of  the 
events  that  had  happened  in  their  time.  They  were 
copied  on  papyrus,  stone  or  brick,  and  notwithstanding 
errors  and  lacunae  in  the  oldest  parts,  we  must  admit  that 
they  offer  valuable  aid  to  students  endeavouring  to  recon- 
struct the  far-off  past  of  Egypt  or  Chaldaea. 

Only  one  of  those  which  existed  in  Egypt  has  come 
down  to  us,  and  it  is  in  a  wretched  state  of  preservation. 
It  is  a  fragment  of  black  granite,  which  strayed  to  Sicily 
no  one  knows  how  or  at  what  period,  and  is  now  in  the 
Palermo  Museum.  Its  inscriptions  were  published  in 
1896  by  Pellegrini,  the  Italian  Egyptologist,  and  at  once 
roused  general  curiosity.  The  nature  of  the  document 


ONE  OF  THE  FACES  OF  THE  PALERMO  STONE,    A  FRAGMENT  OF  EGYPTIAN  ANNALS 


OLD   EGYPTIAN   ANNALS  205 

it  bore  was  not  defined,  however,  until  1901 ; 1  quite 
recently  Schaefer  has  made  a  complete  translation,  which 
makes  it  accessible  not  only  to  expert  Egyptologists, 
but  to  historians  of  antiquity.2  The  beginning  and  the 
end  have  disappeared,  and  no  existing  line  is  complete. 
There  are  at  first  a  series  of  very  short  groups,  ranged 
one  after  another  in  juxtaposed  rectangles.  They  are  not 
the  birth  names  of  the  Pharaohs,  but  the  names  given 
them  on  enthronement,  their  double  names,  like  those 
found  some  years  ago  at  Sakkarah  and  near  Abydos,  a 
canon  of  the  sovereigns  special  perhaps  to  Lower  Egypt.3 
It  seems  that  only  the  forenames  of  those  survived,  and 
that  nothing  was  known  of  them  except  that  they  had 
lived.  They  are  followed  by  other  personages,  about 
whom  there  are  definite  facts,  mention  of  years,  indica- 
tion of  their  mother,  the  height  attained  by  the  Nile  at 
each  of  its  inundations.  Even  if  the  monument  were  less 
damaged  should  we  actually  have  the  sum  total  of  the 
years  of  their  reigns?  It  is  very  doubtful,  and  if  only 
fortune  favours  us  in  our  excavations,  WTC  shall  bring  to 
light  inscriptions  which  will  oblige  us  to  enlarge  the 
list.  The  same  barrenness  is  to  be  found  in  the  lines  in 
which  the  princes  of  the  Illrd  Dynasty  are  enumerated, 
but  when  we  reach  the  IVth  the  information  becomes 
fuller.  Unfortunately  it  is  half  destroyed,  and  we  only 
have  a  small  portion  of  what  concerned  the  first  and  last 
prince  of  the  family  :  the  builders  of  the  three  great 
pyramids,  Cheops,  Chephren,  and  Mycerinus  are  lost 
in  the  lacunae.  The  Pharaohs  who  form  the  first  half  of 

1  Maspero,  in  the  Revue  Critique,  1901,  Vol.  li,  p.  384. 

2  H.  Schaefer :  "  Ein  Bruchstiick  altaegyptischer  Annalen,"  taken 
from  the  Memoirs  of  the  Berlin  Academy  of  Sciences,  1902. 

3  The  determinatives  that  accompany  these  names  represent  the 
king  wearing  the  crown  of  Lower  Egypt.     I  have   said  elsewhere 
that  that  was  not  a  sufficient  reason.     The  names  inscribed  on  the 
Tables  of  Abydos  are  all  determined  by  the  image  of  the  king  wearing 
the  crown  of  Upper  Egypt;  no  one  has  concluded  that  they  were 
kings  of  Upper  Egypt  only,  and,  in  fact,  they  reigned  over  both  Egypts 
united  together. 


206     NEW   LIGHT   ON   ANCIENT   EGYPT 

the  Vth  Dynasty  have  met  with  better  fortune;  if  the 
whole  tale  of  their  years  is  not  preserved,  the  information 
about  those  of  which  the  text  is  intact  is  so  full  that  their 
deeds  live  again  before  our  eyes. 

And  what  are  the  incidents  which  the  chronicler  has 
chosen  to  register?  First  he  records  the  chief  episodes 
in  the  sovereign's  life.  His  first  year,  that  of  his  acces- 
sion, derived  its  name  from  the  ceremonies  usual  on  such 
an  occasion,  and  was  called  the  year  of  his  rising  to  be 
king  of  Upper  and  Lower  Egypt.  The  monarch  bound 
together  the  two  lotus  stems  which  represent  the  two 
halves  of  the  kingdom,  and  four  times  in  succession  he 
ran  round  the  temple  which  sheltered  the  god  from 
whom  he  was  deemed  to  hold  his  crown.  Other  years 
derive  their  titles  from  festivals  that  he  had  to  celebrate 
periodically,  the  procession  in  which  the  boat  of  Horus, 
the  Shomsou  Horou,  represented  the  course  of  the  bull 
Apis,  the  anniversary  of  the  massacre  of  the  tribes  of  the 
Libyan  desert,  the  Anou,  at  the  time  of  the  Osirian  wars. 
Some  years  commemorate  the  foundation  of  a  temple 
or  of  a  funerary  chapel,  or  of  some  religious  ceremony, 
the  institution  of  the  sacrifice,  and  the  donation  of  a 
fief  to  one  of  the  gods.  Elsewhere  maritime  expeditions 
or  wars  are  mentioned.  We  learn  thus  that  in  the  last 
years  of  his  life  Sahouri  imported  large  quantities  of 
myrrh,  gold,  and  rare  woods  from  the  land  of  Pouanit, 
or  that  the  king  Sanofroui  defeated  the  negroes  and 
brought  back  7,000  prisoners  from  the  campaign, 
4,000  men  and  3,000  women,  with  20,000  head  of 
cattle,  and  so  forth.  Fiscal  operations  are  not  forgotten 
in  these  lists,  and  they  supplied  significant  names : 
Years  of  the  statistical  return  of  oxen,  or  Years  of  the 
statistical  return  of  cattle  and  of  gold,  or  again,  Years 
of  the  statistical  return  of  gold  and  of  the  fields.  It 
is  known  that  the  Egyptian  administration,  from  the 
very  earliest  times,  was  carried  on  by  well-adjusted  and 
complicated  machinery.  Egyptologists  are  surprised  to 


OLD   EGYPTIAN   ANNALS  207 

note  the  regularity  with  which  these  statistical  returns 
recur  at  fixed  intervals.  The  Palermo  Stone  shows  that 
under  the  Pharaohs  of  the  Illrd  Dynasty  they  were 
made  every  two  years.  One  year  is  celebrated  because 
two  towns  were  founded  or  colonized ;  another  because 
statues  were  erected  to  the  gods  or  to  deified  kings.  In 
short,  if  fortune  gave  us  a  perfect  exemplar  of  one  of 
these  records  we  should  find  in  it  not  only  the  complete 
history  of  Archaic  Egypt,  but  also  the  most  important 
part  of  that  history  for  its  contemporaries. 

Schaefer  thinks  that  the  Palermo  Stone  dates  from  the 
Vth  Dynasty,  and  I  believe  he  is  right.  The  composition 
of  the  document,  fragments  of  which  it  gives  us,  must 
be  placed  at  the  beginning  of  the  fourth  millenary  B.C. 
Egypt  had  her  ancient  history  at  the  time  when  her 
kings  were  building  the  Pyramids,  and  was  arranging 
her  records  and  placing  them  in  their  proper  setting. 
No  one  will  dispute  that  legend  played  a  part  therein, 
but  it  must  also  be  admitted  that,  taking  it  altogether, 
the  sources  whence  they  are  derived  are  excellent; 
they  were  partly  of  the  kind  that  were  dug  out  of  the 
earth  a  few  years  ago,  and  they  deserve  the  same 
favour.  However,  the  annals  of  the  Palermo  Stone 
are  certainly  not  the  first  that  were  written,  and  if  we 
study  them  carefully  we  seem  to  discover  traces  of 
more  than  one  hand.  I  am  ready  to  recognize  at  least 
two  distinct  documents  in  it,  one  of  which  was  composed 
under  the  IVth  Dynasty,  and  the  other,  comprising  the 
first,  if  not  in  its  entirety,  at  least  in  its  essential  elements, 
would  be  of  the  middle  or  end  of  the  Vth  Dynasty. 
Those  are  questions  for  thorough  examination  and  dis- 
cussion by  experts.  What  may  be  stated  here  is  that 
the  chroniclers  were  not  reduced  to  dip  into  their  imagin- 
ations to  reconstruct  the  annals  of  the  early  Dynasties. 
They  possessed  properly  classified  lists  of  authentic  facts, 
thanks  to  which  they  could  accurately  relate  the  great 
deeds  of  their  oldest  kings. 


XXVIII 

MUMMIES   OF  ANIMALS   IN   ANCIENT  EGYPT 

IT  would  be  a  very  difficult  matter  to  explain  why  the 
Egyptians  mummified  their  corpses;  but  when  once 
done,  they  were  so  pleased  with  the  result  that  they  pur- 
sued the  practice  with  everything  that  afforded  material. 
They  mummified  their  domestic  animals,  their  oxen, 
their  dogs,  their  cats,  their  gazelles,  birds  of  the  poultry- 
yard,  birds  of  prey,  sparrow-hawks  by  twenties,  ibises 
by  the  hundred,  innumerable  eagles,  countless  vultures, 
without  mentioning  birds  of  less  pretension ;  then  they 
came  down  to  fish,  serpents,  lizards,  even  insects,  the 
grasshopper  as  well  as  the  beetle.  And,  like  men,  these 
creatures  had  their  cemeteries  in  which  they  lay  properly 
buried  side  by  side,  the  cats  at  Stabl-Antar  and  at 
Bubastis,  the  dogs  at  Siout,  the  fish  at  Esneh,  the 
gazelles  and  sparrow-hawks  at  Kom-Ombo,  the  monkeys 
at  Thebes  and  at  Tounah,  the  ibises  near  Abydos,  the 
oxen  in  most  places,  but  by  preference  at  Sakkarah  and 
Thebes.  Some  are  put  straight  into  the  sand  without 
other  accoutrements  than  the  bare  wrappings;  others  in 
long  narrow  rush  baskets;  some  are  subtly  hidden  at 
the  bottom  of  painted  earthen  pots;  others  again  have 
a  complete  funerary  equipment,  stone  sarcophagi,  beau- 
tifully decorated  wooden  coffins,  pasteboard  boxes, 
jewels,  amulets,  statuettes  destined  to  perform  the  corvees 
of  the  other  world  in  their  stead.  Like  men,  Egyptian 
animals  had  their  ranks,  from  the  vulgar  herd  of  prole- 
tariat cats  and  dogs  to  the  aristocracy  of  the  hermetical 

208 


\ 


THE  MUMMY  OF  A  HAWK  IN  ITS  COFFIN. 


MUMMIES   OF   ANIMALS  209 

ibises  and  the  bulls  of  Apis,  who  were  gods  already  in 
their  lifetime,  and  who  became  gods  in  a  much  higher 
degree  after  their  death.  The  common  grave  was  good 
enough  for  the  vulgar  herd;  the  Apis  of  Memphis,  the 
Mnevis  of  Heliopolis,  the  Bacchis  of  Erment,  the  ram  of 
Mendes  required  a  tomb  or  a  chamber  each,  and  their 
funerals  sometimes  rivalled  in  magnificence  those  of 
the  Pharaohs. 

In  recent  times  their  mummies  have  been  carefully 
sought,  most  often  for  the  sake  of  the  chemical  manure 
to  be  derived  from  them,  and  hundreds  of  thousands 
have  been  exported  to  Europe.  Some  of  their  ceme- 
teries are  now  empty,  and  I  found  it  difficult  to  procure 
twenty  intact  examples  when  Dr.  Lortet  wanted  some  to 
study  scientifically,  and  determine  the  species.1  He 
was  interesting  himself  in  a  counter  proof  of  the  Dar- 
winian law.  If  changes  in  the  morphology  and  inner 
structure  of  living  organisms  correspond  with  changes 
in  the  climatic  conditions  of  their  native  places,  it  is 
indubitably  proved  that  in  districts  where  the  climate 
has  undergone  no  change  for  many  thousands  of  years, 
vertebrates  have  always  remained  the  same.  From  a 
very  remote  epoch,  between  the  oolitic  and  the  cretace- 
ous period,  when  the  waters  of  Central  Africa  began  to 
flow  towards  the  Mediterranean,  the  climate  of  Egypt 
does  not  appear  to  have  undergone  any  sensible  change. 
Even  without  going  back  to  the  geological  ages,  from 
the  time  when  the  Egyptians  began  to  build,  it  is  evident 
from  the  scenes  of  familiar  life  engraved  on  the  monu- 
ments that  the  valley  presented  the  same  conditions  of 
climate  then  as  now.  Do  the  bas-reliefs  and  the  corpses 
afford  us  means  of  discovering  if  any  modification  has 
occurred  in  the  organism  of  the  ancient  vertebrates  which 

1  Lortet  and  Gaillard:  "La  Faune  Momifiee  de  PAncienne  £gypte," 
First  Series,  1903.  (Extract  from  Vol.  viii  of  the  Archives  of  the 
Natural  History  Museum  at  Lyons.) 

'4 


210     NEW   LIGHT   ON   ANCIENT   EGYPT 

distinguishes  them  from  their  fellows  of  modern  times? 
The  reply  of  the  documents  is  what  it  must  be;  the 
species  of  modern  Egypt  are  identical  with  those  of 
Pharaonic  Egypt,  at  least  those  whose  bones  or  mum- 
mies are  found  in  the  old  cemeteries.  The  difference 
between  the  fauna  of  to-day  and  that  of  the  past  is  not 
morphological  but  historical.  Many  new  kinds  were 
introduced  into  the  country  after  the  Arab  conquest, 
while  many  others  became  rare  or  disappeared;  those 
that  have  persisted  through  everything  have  not 
changed. 

Two  or  three  points  of  great  importance  for  general 
history  have  resulted  from  the  analyses  of  Lortet  and 
his  collaborator,  Gaillard.  The  Egyptian  bas-reliefs 
show  us  the  existence  of  two  bovine  species,  one  of 
which  has  short  and  the  other  long  horns;  the  latter  is 
the  only  species  of  which  there  are  mummies  in  the  ceme- 
teries; Apis  and  Mnevis,  and  the  sacred  bulls  of  Mem- 
phis and  Heliopolis  belong  to  it.  Now,  this  long-horned 
race,  which  appears  on  the  monuments  and  which  is 
beginning  to  be  disinterred  from  the  dust  of  the  hypo- 
geums,  is  declared  by  Lortet  and  Gaillard  to  be  none 
other  than  the  African  zebu,  the  Bos  Africanus,  large 
herds  of  which  freely  roam  the  plains  of  the  Upper  Nile. 
There  are  no  reasons  for  believing  that  it  is  of  Asiatic 
origin,  nor  that  it  came  from  India  in  the  train  of  some 
emigrant  tribe  in  prehistoric  times.  It  must  have  had 
its  origin  in  the  central  parts  of  Africa,  and  then,  per- 
haps, with  the  races  of  men  whence  the  Egyptians 
descend,  have  come  down  along  the  valley  to  the  portion 
of  it  that  formed  historic  Egypt,  just  like  the  hippo- 
potamus and  the  crocodile,  which  are  regarded  by  all  as 
African  species.  In  that  environment  of  fixed  stability 
it  acquired  special  characteristics  in  perfect  accord  with 
the  conditions  and  climate,  and  it  kept  them  such  as  they 
are  so  long  as  fortuitous  circumstances  did  not  com- 


MUMMIES   OF  ANIMALS  211 

promise  it's  reproduction.  After  the  Arab  conquest 
frequent  murrains  destroyed  it,  and  a  short-horned  race 
was  imported  from  Syria;  it  is  only  in  our  day,  and  in 
order  to  repair  the  damage  done  to  the  new  race  by  other 
murrains,  that  expert  Egyptian  agriculturists  have 
brought  individuals  of  the  old  race  still  to  be  found  in 
the  Soudan  to  the  Said  and  the  Delta.  The  two  species 
of  sheep  represented  on  the  monuments,  and  of  which 
the  cemeteries  restore  the  skeletons  to  us,  have  a  similar 
history;  they  are  purely  African  in  origin  and  analogies. 
The  more  intimate  our  knowledge  of  the  past  becomes, 
the  more  the  hypothesis  that  the  races  of  men  and  of 
animals  that  peopled  Egypt  are  of  an  Asiatic  origin  must 
be  abandoned;  we  come  to  find  both  men  and  animals 
more  and  more  African. 

In  the  course  of  his  studies  of  these  mummies  Lortet 
has  discovered  details  which  will  surprise  and  amuse 
Egyptologists.  One  mummy,  which  comes  from  Abousir, 
seemed  to  be  the  remains  of  a  superb  bull,  nearly  seven 
feet  long  and  more  than  three  feet  broad.  The  wrap- 
pings were  of  fine  linen  tied  with  cords  of  palm-fibre  and 
narrow  list ;  it  had  a  brownish  coating,  which  is  only  dry 
natron,  a  magnificently  horned  head  standing  out  from 
the  whole.  When  unrolled,  the  animal  changed,  or 
rather  became  decomposed,  into  many  animals.  It 
was  artificial,  and  made  up  of  a  large  number  of  odd 
pieces  tied  together;  there  were  the  remains  of  seven 
males,  some  very  old,  and  among  them  four  skulls  with 
toothless  jaws,  and  atrophied  by  the  action  of  time.  A 
second  mummy  of  similar  origin  comprised  the  remains 
of  five  animals,  among  them  a  calf  hardly  two  and  a  half 
years  old,  and  an  old  ox  of  gigantic  size.  A  third  had 
two  heads,  and  most  of  those  containing  a  whole  animal 
had  also  the  residue  of  several  other  skeletons.  To 
explain  this  curious  collection  of  waste  material,  Lortet 
very  appropriately  remembered  the  curious  passage  in 


212     NEW   LIGHT   ON   ANCIENT  EGYPT 

which  Herodotus  relates  how  the  fellaheen  of  his  time 
threw  their  cows  when  they  died  into  the  Nile,  but  buried 
the  bulls  in  the  suburbs  of  their  villages,  letting  one  or 
two  horns  stick  out  to  mark  the  presence  of  the  corpses. 
After  a  certain  time  had  elapsed  and  putrefaction  had 
done  its  work,  a  boat  arrived  which  took  the  bones  to 
the  island  of  Prosopitis  to  bury  them  in  a  fixed  place. 
This  narrative  explains  why  the  tombs  of  Abousir  yield 
so  many  incomplete  animals.  The  priests  of  Memphis 
acted  like  those  of  Prosopitis,  but  when  the  collectors 
reached  the  end  of  their  voyage  what  they  delivered  to 
the  embalmers  was  only  a  cargo  of  fieshless  carcases, 
parts  of  which  had  probably  been  left  in  their  first  bury- 
ing-ground,  and  the  rest  had  fallen  to  pieces  in  the  acci- 
dents of  travel.  The  whole  was  divided  into  several  lots, 
out  of  which  was  formed  the  same  number  of  mummies, 
apparently  perfect  but  in  reality  only  a  collection  of 
relics ;  they  were  careful  to  choose  for  the  head  the  best- 
shaped  skull  and  that  adorned  with  the  finest  horns. 
A  fine  mummy  from  Abousir,  arranged  in  the  form  of  a 
she-goat,  only  concealed  a  few  fragments  of  a  he-goat, 
the  Hircus  mambricus,  lost  in  a  profusion  of  bones, 
limbs,  vertebrae,  and  bony  dermal  scales  of  a  large 
crocodile ;  it  had  all  been  plentifully  covered  with  tar  so 
that  the  fragments  adhered  together. 

Quadrupeds,  birds,  fishes  abound  in  oddities  which 
still  await  explanation ;  many  details  concerning  human 
mummies  are  still  obscure,  and  the  study  of  them  has 
been  going  on  for  many  years,  while  the  examination 
of  the  mummies  of  animals  almost  begins  with  Lortet 
and  his  collaborators.  We  must  not,  then,  be  surprised 
if  the  principle  of  the  practice  is  as  yet  uncertain,  and 
if  we  can  only  put  forth  conjectures  as  to  the  motives 
that  urged  the  Egyptians  to  embalm  certain  kinds  of 
animals.  First,  we  should  note  that  the  custom  did  not 
spread  until  late,  probably  about  the  time  of  the  Persian 


MUMMIES   OF  ANIMALS  213 

conquest.  Until  then  mummification  was  an  honour 
reserved  for  a  few  individuals  in  each  species  possessing 
a  supernatural  character.  It  was  not  for  all  bulls,  but 
only  for  those  on  whom  marks  betraying  divinity  were 
discerned,  and  who  had  been  enthroned  with  ceremony 
as  being  the  god  himself,  the  Apis  of  Memphis,  the 
Mnevis  of  Heliopolis,  the  Bacchis  of  Erment.  Their 
corpses  were  preserved  not  exactly  as  bulls,  but  rather 
as  gods  incarnated  in  a  bull.  A  god,  like  men,  was 
composed  of  a  body  and  of  a  double  or  soul,  what- 
ever might  be  the  conception  that  was  held  of  the 
soul.  The  god,  once  dead  to  the  earthly  life,  would  not 
have  participated  in  the  joys  of  the  life  beyond  had 
he  not  been  treated  in  the  same  way  as  men,  and  as  gods 
in  human  shape;  in  order  that  the  soul  and  the  double 
should  not  be  annihilated,  the  casing  in  which  they  had 
existed  in  the  world  must  not  be  allowed  to  perish.  The 
mummy  of  the  sacred  ox  was  the  necessary  support  of 
the  god  who  had  inhabited  it,  and  the  rites  of  em- 
balmment were  the  needful  preliminaries  of  immortality. 
Apis,  Mnevis,  Bacchis,  prepared  with  the  prescribed 
ceremonies,  were  identified  with  Osiris,  and  passed  into 
the  condition  of  Osiris-Apis,  Osiris-Mnevis,  Osiris- 
Bacchis.  It  was  the  same  with  others,  and  the  goose  of 
Amon,  the  fish  of  Hathor,  the  ibis  of  Thot,  the  cat  of 
Bastit,  had  as  a  principle  no  other  reason  for  their  mum- 
mification, except  that  they  had  provided  Amon,  Hathor, 
Thot,  and  Bastit  with  the  form  in  which  those  divinities 
had  walked  the  earth  among  their  faithful  believers. 

That  was  the  beginning  of  the  custom,  and  there  it 
seems  to  have  remained  for  a  long  time.  But  in  the 
course  of  the  ages,  the  veneration  given  to  the  individual 
creature  chosen  by  the  god  to  incorporate  one  of  his 
doubles  extended  to  all  his  fellows,  and  the  people  of 
Bubastis  instead  of  worshipping  the  few  cats  which 
represented  the  goddess  in  the  temple  of  the  town, 


214     NEW   LIGHT   ON  ANCIENT   EGYPT 

honoured  all  cats;  the  god  of  the  nome  ceased  to  be  a 
special  cat  and  became  the  cat  species  in  general.  A 
similar  evolution  taking  place  in  other  quarters,  holiness 
and  its  privileges  gradually  invested  all  the  bulls  in  the 
nomes  which  had  worshipped  a  bull,  all  the  ibises  in  the 
nomes  which  had  worshipped  an  ibis,  all  the  falcons,  all 
the  monkeys,  all  the  serpents,  all  the  fishes,  all  the 
gazelles,  all  the  geese  in  the  nomes  where  a  falcon,  a 
monkey,  a  serpent,  a  fish,  a  gazelle,  a  particular  goose 
was  worshipped.  Painful  conflicts  resulted  between  cus- 
tom and  faith  when  the  chief  utility  of  the  race  was  its 
suitability  for  food.  If  all  oxen  were  more  or  less  imbued 
with  divinity,  could  they  still  be  eaten  ?  Certain  nomes 
resigned  themselves  to  total  abstinence,  and  those  Egyp- 
tians who  sent  their  oxen  to  the  slaughter-house  were 
regarded  as  impure.  It  was  in  those  cases  that  the  pious 
acted  as  Herodotus  described,  and  gathered  the  bones 
from  everywhere  in  order  to  give  them  a  burial  suited  to 
divine  dignity.  Cemeteries  for  animals  were  instituted, 
and  increased  at  the  time  when  Egypt,  gradually 
degenerating  by  contact  with  Western  civilizations,  by 
'.reaction  against  them,  exaggerated  the  tendencies  of  its 
own  civilization,  and  passed  from  the  worship  of  a  few 
animals  to  that  of  the  whole  species.  I  regard  it  as  a 
relatively  late  development  of  an  ancient  doctrine,  but 
my  opinion  is  open  to  doubt.  Lortet  has  not  finished 
his  researches,  and  the  book  before  us  is  only  the  begin- 
ning of  an  important  work ;  perhaps  the  material  he  col- 
lects will  provide  us  with  the  means  of  verifying  the 
hypothesis  and  changing  it  into  a  fact. 


XXIX 

THE  FORTUNE  OF  AN  EGYPTIAN  GOD  THREE  THOUSAND 
YEARS  AGO 

WHEN  King  Ramses  III  was  tired  of  power  he 
philosophically  resolved  to  profit  by  the  old  age  that  had 
come  upon  him,  and  in  the  thirty-second  year  of  his  reign 
associated  with  himself  on  the  throne  his  eldest  son, 
named  Ramses  like  himself.  He  crowned  him  with  due 
ceremony  before  the  assembled  army,  nobility  and  clergy 
in  the  temple  of  Amon  at  Thebes.  When  the  new 
sovereign  had  been  presented  to  his  people,  public  and 
private  life  continued  the  even  tenor  of  their  ways. 
Ramses  IV  ruled,  Ramses  III  assisted  him  with  advice, 
but  otherwise  reposed  from  the  cares  of  office.  Find- 
ing himself  with  leisure,  a  circumstance  that  probably 
had  not  happened  since  the  distant  day  when  his  father 
Setnakhiti  had  entrusted  the  regency  to  him,  he  used  it 
to  dictate  to  his  scribes  a  sort  of  political  testament 
destined  to  give  the  best  idea  of  himself  to  future  genera- 
tions. As  if  by  a  miracle,  one  of  the  official  copies  of 
this  veracious  act  has  escaped  destruction,  and  after 
remaining  in  the  hands  of  a  certain  Harris,  English 
Consul  at  Alexandria,  for  more  than  a  quarter  of  a 
century,  it  was  purchased,  printed  in  facsimile,  published 
and  translated,  by  the  directors  of  the  British  Museum. 
It  ends  with  a  brief  narrative  of  the  exploits  of  Ramses 
III ;  it  also  contains  lengthy  lists  and  magnificent  descrip- 
tions of  the  things  given  by  the  sovereign  to  the  gods. 
It  is  he  who  makes  use  of  the  term  "given,"  and  we 
can  believe  it  if  we  please,  but  as  a  matter  of  fact  these 

215 


216     NEW   LIGHT   ON  ANCIENT   EGYPT 

alleged  gifts  were,  in  many  cases,  simple  confirmation  of 
donations  made  by  his  predecessors  of  the  XVIIIth 
and  XlXth  Dynasties.  However  that  may  be,  we  have 
an  authentic  statement  of  the  wealth  of  the  clergy  in  the 
thirty-second  year  of  Ramses  III;  the  document  is 
unique  in  its  kind  up  to  the  present  time. 

The  terms  are  sometimes  a  little  vague,  and  we  must 
not  expect  to  find  the  detailed  statistics  contained  in  the 
Polyptic  of  Irminon,  for  example;  precision  in  detail 
was  scarcely  the  strong  point  of  a  Pharaoh  when  com- 
posing panegyrics.  Besides,  if  the  authors  had  desired 
to  include  the  dimensions  of  each  domain,  with  the 
names  of  the  farmers,  tenants,  husbandmen,  slaves  who 
worked  on  it,  a  whole  library,  not  a  single  papyrus  roll, 
would  have  been  required.  They  state  what  belongs  to 
the  gods  of  the  three  chief  cities,  Thebes,  Heliopolis  and 
Memphis,  then  to  those  of  the  lesser  towns,  men, 
gardens,  corn-lands,  cattle,  boats,  market-towns  and 
villages.  Although  indicated  generally  and  in  lump 
sums,  the  information  furnished  by  the  Harris  papyrus 
enables  us  to  imagine  quite  well  the  extent  and  nature 
of  the  sacerdotal  wealth.  It  would  be  too  long  and 
tedious  a  business  to  transcribe  the  portions  which  apply 
to  each  sanctuary;  it  will  be  sufficient  to  extract  what 
concerns  Amon  of  Thebes,  the  most  honoured  and  most 
wealthy  of  the  gods  of  Egypt.  He  possessed  5,164 
divine  statues;  81,322  vassals,  servants  and  slaves; 
421,262  head  of  cattle,  large  and  small;  433  gardens  and 
orchards;  about  60,000  acres  of  corn-land;  83  ships; 
46  building  yards ;  65  cities,  market-towns  and  villages, 
seven  of  which  were  in  Asia.  And  that  was  not  all  ; 
during  the  thirty-two  years  of  his  reign  he  had  received 
as  votive  gifts  or  offerings  vast  quantities  of  gold, 
silver  and  copper;  3,722  pieces  of  material,  tens  of 
thousands  of  bushels  of  corn;  289,530  birds,  besides 
large  quantities  of  thread,  flax,  oil,  wine  and  incense. 


FORTUNE   OF  AN   EGYPTIAN    GOD    217 

These  things  represent  tributes  or  dues  over  and  above 
the  ordinary  revenue  from  the  landed  estate.  Amon 
was  then  a  very  great  personage,  the  greatest  in  Egypt 
after  the  king.  He  dominated  at  least  a  tenth,  perhaps 
an  eighth  of  the  valley,  and,  like  all  mortmains,  mani- 
fested a  tendency  to  increase  rather  than  to  diminish. 

Most  modern  historians,  remembering  that  a  hundred 
or  a  hundred  and  fifty  years  after  this  Ramses,  the 
High  Priest  of  Amon  proclaimed  himself  king,  con- 
cluded that  the  revolution  which  substituted  a  theocracy 
for  the  military  authority  of  the  Ramses,  was  favoured, 
if  not  wholly  brought  about,  by  the  enrichment  of  the 
priesthood  to  the  detriment  of  the  dynasty.  Their  idea 
has  lately  been  disputed  by  Erman.1  He  does  not  con- 
sider the  figures  of  the  Harris  papyrus  as  convincing  as 
they  seemed  to  his  predecessors.  According  to  him, 
even  if  we  strain  the  calculation,  Amon's  domain  would 
not  occupy  more  than  a  sixth,  at  most,  of  the  territory  of 
Egypt  proper,  not  more,  probably,  than  a  tenth;  would 
that  be  likely  to  destroy  Pharaoh's  power  ?  It  would  be 
the'  same  with  the  vassal  population ;  reckon  it  as  high 
as  you  like,  it  would  not  at  most  attain  a  hundredth  part 
of  the  total  population  of  Egypt.  The  dues  spread  over 
thirty-two  years  would  leave  only  a  very  small  amount 
for  each.  In  short,  Amon  was  certainly  very  wealthy, 
but  not  sufficiently  so  to  overshadow  the  authority  of  the 
sovereigns.  If  the  Ramses  disappeared,  and  yielded 
their  place  to  the  priesthood,  their  fall  should  not  be 
ascribed  solely  to  the  power  that  the  wealth  of  the  god 
gave  their  adversaries;  other  factors  intervened.  Erman 
came  to  the  conclusion  that  the  plan  on  which  the  history 
of  that  epoch  has  been  written,  ought  to  undergo  much 
modification,  and  although  the  concise  manner  in  which 

1  A.  Erman  :  "  Zur  Erklaerung  des  Papyrus  Harris."  Extract  from 
the  Sitzungsbericht  of  the  Berlin  Academy,  1903,  No.  Ixxxi,  pp.  456- 
474- 


2i8     NEW   LIGHT    ON   ANCIENT   EGYPT 

he  conducts  the  discussion  lends  a  great  weight  to  his 
opinion,  I  doubt  if  it  would  be  wise  to  admit  it  without 
reserve.  I  do  not  know  if  others  have  regarded  the 
enrichment  of  Amon  as  the  unique  determining  cause  of 
the  ruin  of  the  Ramses;  for  my  part  I  have  for  a  long 
time  shown  other  reasons,  equally  cogent,  which  caused 
the  direct  line  of  the  great  Ramses  to  be  replaced  by 
a  family  of  pontiff  sovereigns.  It  would  be  a  great 
undertaking  to  set  them  forth  in  full,  but  it  is  quite  easy 
to  note  them  briefly. 

First,  the  Harris  papyrus  only  shows  the  apanage  of 
the  god  about  the  end  of  the  reign  of  Ramses  III,  at 
a  time  when  the  treasury  of  the  Pharaohs  was  regularly 
fed  by  tribute  from  Syria.  In  the  course  of  the  following 
century  the  kings  gradually  abandoned  those  distant 
provinces,  and  their  treasuries  became  impoverished; 
Egypt  alone  had  to  supply  resources  which  had  formerly 
been  derived  partly  from  Egypt  and  partly  from  foreign 
lands.  During  that  period  Amon's  treasury  did  not 
suffer  in  the  same  proportion  as  the  royal  treasury;  it 
lost  the  revenue  of  a  few  Syrian  towns,  but  that  was  no 
great  matter  in  his  affairs  taken  as  a  whole,  and  as, 
on  the  other  hand,  he  received  donations  from  Egyptian 
territory  at  each  new  reign,  we  shall  probably  be  under- 
estimating rather  than  overestimating  the  facts,  if  we 
suppose  that,  so  far  as  he  was  concerned,  the  gains  com- 
pensated for  the  losses.  If  he  merely  remained  station- 
ary, while  royalty  fell  back  and  lost  power,  the  priest- 
hood would  grow  in  power,  or  rather,  the  difference 
between  his  wealth  and  that  of  Pharaoh  being  lessened, 
his  influence  would  have  greater  weight  in  the  destinies 
of  the  country.  The  priesthood  was  thus  encouraged  to 
demand  the  inheritance  in  favour  of  its  supreme  head. 
Until  then,  in  fact,  the  high  priest  had  been  chosen  and 
nominated  by  the  king;  from  the  time  of  Ramses  III  he 
was  always  chosen  in  the  same  family,  and  the  son  sue- 


FORTUNE   OF  AN   EGYPTIAN    GOD    219 

ceeded  his  father  on  the  pontifical  throne.  From  that  time 
events  marched  quickly.  The  Theban  mortmain  was 
doubled  with  a  veritable  seignorial  fief,  which  his  masters 
increased  by  marriages  with  the  heirs  of  neighbouring 
fiefs,  by  continual  bequests  from  one  branch  of  the 
family  to  the  other,  by  the  placing  of  cadets  of  each 
generation  at  the  head  of  the  clergy  of  certain  secondary 
towns.  The  official  protocol  of  the  offices  filled  by  their 
wives  shows  that  a  century  or  a  century  and  a  half  after 
Ramses  III,  almost  the  whole  of  the  Thebaid,  about  the 
third  of  the  Egyptian  territory,  was  in  the  hands  of 
the  High  Priest  of  Amon  and  of  his  family.  He  ruled 
the  larger  number  of  the  towns  and  nomes,  from 
Assouan  to  Siout  and  beyond,  under  the  king,  and  those 
which  did  not  come  directly  under  his  power  were 
dependent  on  him  by  virtue  of  the  functions  he  fulfilled 
at  court.  He  commanded  the  armies,  administered  the 
finances,  governed  the  southern  countries  and  was  Vice- 
roy of  Ethiopia.  His  authority  was  at  that  time  set  on 
sufficiently  complex  foundations.  If  resulted  in  some 
slight  degree  from  the  civil  and  military  offices  with 
which  he  was  invested.  It  rested  on  the  large  number 
of  fiefs  of  which  he  was  hereditary  lord,  and  which 
represented  the  apanage  of  his  family.  It  rested  lastly 
on  the  revenues  and  lands  which  formed  the  patrimony 
proper  of  Amonra4. 

We  have  no  means  of  knowing  the  proportions 
assumed  by  each  of  those  elements  of  his  influence,  nor 
if  his  family  possessions  were  larger  than  the  mortmain 
of  the  god;  together  they  procured  him  a  situation  that 
caused  the  Ramses  to  succumb  before  him.  The  day 
he  ascended  the  throne  he  was  already  the  owner  of 
the  valley  from  the  confluence  of  the  Blue  Nile  to  the 
environs  of  Siout;  further  north  his  property  was  too 
thinly  scattered  for  him  to  have  the  upper  hand,  and  a 
family  rose  up  at  Tanis  which,  supported  by  the  popu- 


220     NEW   LIGHT   ON  ANCIENT   EGYPT 

lous  cities  of  the  Delta,  compelled  the  Thebans  to  take  an 
oath  of  vassalage  to  it.  Egypt  was  thenceforth  divided 
into  two  unequal  parts,  of  which  the  southern  formed 
a  principality  ruled  nominally  by  Amon,  but  actually 
by  the  descendants  of  his  prophets.  If  the  wealth  of 
the  god  was  not  the  unique  cause,  it  was  at  least  the 
chief  instrument :  without  the  resources  it  afforded  to 
the  high  priests  they  would  not  have  succeeded  so 
quickly  in  claiming  the  inheritance,  then  in  acquiring  the 
personal  property  which,  added  to  the  divine  property, 
soon  gave  them  superiority  over  the  Pharaohs.  The 
Harris  papyrus  is  a  valuable  document  of  ancient  Egypt. 
It  gives  a  detailed  inventory  of  Amon's  possessions  at 
the  critical  period  of  his  career,  and  so  enables  us  to 
calculate  with  sufficient  likelihood  the  power  possessed 
by  his  representatives,  and  to  bring  to  light  one  of 
the  means  used  by  them  to  turn  the  military  fief  of 
Thebes  into  a  theocratic  principality. 


XXX 

THE   PALACE  OF  AN   EGYPTIAN   PHARAOH   AT  THEBES 

WE  know  in  detail  the  habitations  of  the  Egyptian 
gods  and  how  they  lived  in  them ;  gigantic,  innumerable 
temples  are  there  to  tell  us,  some  so  well  preserved 
in  the  essential  parts  that  one  or  two  days'  work  would 
almost  suffice  to  prepare  them  for  the  services,  others 
dismantled  or  in  ruins,  yet  not  so  much  so  that  we 
cannot  with  a  little  trouble  restore  the  plan.  The  gods, 
indeed,  exacted  everlasting  dwellings,  and  the  Pharaohs, 
solicitous  to  please  them,  bestowed  on  them  the  most 
durable  material,  limestone,  sandstone,  granite,  alabas- 
ter; they  reserved  wood  and  dry  bricks  for  themselves, 
and  for  twenty  temples  that  have  been  preserved,  we 
count  hardly  two  or  three  royal  palaces,  for  they  are  so 
seriously  damaged  that  their  plan  is  not  very  clear. 
One  of  them,  a  little  less  of  a  fragment  than  the  others, 
is  in  course  of  being  excavated  at  Thebes,  on  the  left 
bank  of  the  river,  at  the  south  of  Medinet-Habou.  It 
was  explored  for  the  first  time  in  the  winter  of  1888-9 
by  Grebaut,  then  from  1900  the  methodical  clearing 
out  was  undertaken  by  an  Englishman,  Mr.  Newbury, 
at  the  expense  of  R.  de  P.  Tytus,  an  American.  Now, 
after  three  years,  many  of  the  buildings  of  which 
it  consisted  have  been  dug  out  and  its  plan  can  be 
clearly  distinguished.1  The  few  tourists  whom  curiosity 
takes  there  can  study  at  their  ease  the  favourite 

1  "A  preliminary  report  on  the   re-excavation   of  the  palace   of 
Amenhetep  III,"  by  Robb  de  Peyser  Tytus.     1903. 

221 


222     NEW   LIGHT   ON   ANCIENT   EGYPT 

residence  of  Amenothes  III,  one  of  the  most  illustrious 
sovereigns  of  the  XVIIIth  Dynasty,  and  they  can  freely 
walk  through  the  most  private  apartments,  even  those  in 
which  the  queen  shut  herself  up  with  the  ladies  of  her 
suite. 

The  buildings  rose  from  alluvial  earth  covered  by 
sand,  but  which  was  then  well  watered,  and  allowed  the 
laying  out  of  beautiful  gardens  on  the  edge  of  the  desert. 
Towards  the  east  could  be  seen  the  steep  slopes  and  the 
peaked  mountains  of  Libya,  towards  the  west  and  south 
the  fields  and  groves  of  the  Theban  plain;  towards  the 
north  Amenothes  III  saw  the  masonry  of  the  funerary 
temple  he  was  building,  and  above  the  line  of  the  cornices 
the  heads  of  the  two  colossi  erected  by  his  minister, 
Amenothes,  son  of  Hapoui,  to  his  glory.1  The  chapels 
of  his  predecessors  retreated  one  behind  the  other  to  the 
entrance  of  the  valley  which  leads  to  the  tombs  of  the 
kings,  and  beyond  the  Nile,  its  feet  bathed  in  the  eddies 
of  the  stream,  the  Thebes  of  the  living  extended  as  far 
as  the  eye  could  reach ;  Louxor  and  its  sanctuary  faintly 
outlined,  Ashirou  with  its  high  grey  ramparts,  Karnak 
with  its  silhouette  indented  with  obelisks,  closed  the 
horizon.  The  Pharaoh  watched  over  the  turbulent  city 
to  which  he  was  sufficiently  near  to  reach  it  in  an  hour 
if  his  presence  was  required,  and  sufficiently  far  to  escape 
the  smells  and  noise  of  the  streets.  A  little  town  had 
arisen  round  him,  a  town  of  luxury  and  official  cere- 
monies, in  which  each  of  the  great  officers  of  the  crown 
possessed  their  lodging,  where  picked  artisans  made  the 
things  required  by  the  court,  goldsmiths  skilled  in  melt- 
ing and  chasing  the  gold  of  Syria  or  Ethiopia,  engravers 
on  fine  stones,  glass-makers,  enamellers,  embroiderers, 
weavers.  The  remains  of  the  quarters  in  which  they 
lived  have  been  brought  to  light,  and  here  and  there  the 
sites  of  their  workshops  may  be  recognized.  Scoriae 
1  Cf.  Chapter  XXV. 


PALACE   OF  AN   EGYPTIAN   PHARAOH    223 

of  coloured  pastes  and  enamels  mark  the  place  of  the 
glass-makers,  as  the  fellaheen  of  the  district  well  know ; 
they  provide  themselves  with  whole  or  broken  objects 
which  they  sell  to  strangers.  Amenothes  III  had  a 
passion  for  jewels,  and  for  pottery  in  blue  or  polychrome 
enamel.  The  pieces  so  much  admired  by  us  for  their 
bright  tones,  brilliant  glaze,  purity,  elegance  of  shape, 
and  delicacy  of  workmanship,  have  come  for  years  from 
the  ruins  of  his  villa;  there  are  cups  in  the  shape  of  the 
calyx  of  a  full-blown  lotus  flower,  drinking  vessels  which 
simulate  a  pond  teeming  with  aquatic  plants  and  peopled 
with  fishes,  collyrium  pots,  ampullas,  flower  vases,  amu- 
lets, round  or  long  beads  for  necklaces  and  bracelets, 
plain  rings,  and  rings  with  gems.  Some  are  mere 
rubbish  and  rough  fragments,  but  if  these  are  so  beauti- 
ful, we  ask  what  the  perfect  pieces  must  have  been  like 
in  their  first  freshness. 

The  palace  itself  is  rectangular  in  shape.  It  was  sur- 
rounded by  a  wall  of  medium  thickness,  pierced  by  doors 
at  rare  and  irregular  intervals.  The  outer  side  of  the 
wall  is  a  blind,  undecorated  fa£ade.  Beyond  it  came  a 
veritable  labyrinth  of  narrow  courtyards,  pillared  halls, 
small  chambers,  garrets  all  communicating  with  one 
another,  and  here  and  there  ending  in  blind  alleys.  The 
surface  thus  covered  measures  rather  more  than  four 
acres.  The  remains  of  the  walls  are  rarely  higher  than 
about  five  feet,  in  more  than  one  place  only  the  levellings 
are  left,  or  even  only  the  trenches  hollowed  for  the 
foundations.  The  thickness  varied  from  a  little  over  a 
foot  and  a  half  to  a  little  over  three  feet,  according  to  the 
size  of  the  rooms,  and  they  were  about  eighteen  feet 
high.  The  whole  was  of  unbaked  bricks,  some  of  which 
had  received  the  impression  of  the  two  cartouches  of  the 
king.  The  floor  was  of  beaten  clay,  which  had  become 
as  hard  as  stone.  The  walls  were  covered  with  a  rough 
coat  of  mud,  like  that  everywhere  employed  in  the 


224     NEW   LIGHT   ON  ANCIENT  EGYPT 

villages.  The  ceilings  were  of  two  slightly  different 
kinds.  In  the  smaller  rooms  and  in  the  corridors  small 
beams  of  palm  or  acacia  wood  were  thrown  across  from 
wall  to  wall,  heavy  palm  fibre  mats  were  placed  above, 
covered  with  a  thick  layer  of  beaten  earth.  A  more  com- 
plicated method  was  used  for  the  halls.  A  series  of 
beams,  such  as  I  have  just  described,  was  placed  on  the 
wooden  architraves  which  connected  the  pillars,  and 
they  were  fastened  by  means  of  joists  firmly  joined 
above ;  then  the  sunk  panels  were  filled  in  with  soft  clay, 
so  that  a  heavy,  stiff  covering  was  obtained  with  plenty 
of  resisting  power.  The  fragments  of  ceilings  which 
lie  scattered  among  the  ruins,  and  the  still  standing 
bases  of  walls  bear  traces  of  bright,  cheerful  paintings  of 
the  same  type  as  those  we  admire  in  the  tombs  and 
temples.  Vultures  with  outspread  wings,  and  flocks  of 
geese  or  ducks,  framed  in  many-coloured  curved  or 
spiral  lines,  soar  on  the  ceilings.  Figures  of  women 
dance  on  the  walls,  and  the  pavements,  similar  to  those 
in  the  palaces  of  El-Amarna,1  seem  to  be  pools  of  water 
filled  with  aquatic  plants  or  marshes  with  grazing  oxen. 
Fish  pursue  each  other  under  the  waters,  birds  sport 
among  the  lotus  flowers,  and  captives  bound  in  uncom- 
fortable positions  line  the  banks. 

Nothing  in  the  aspect  of  the  place  authorizes  us  to 
conjecture  exactly  how  the  family  and  their  servants  dis- 
tributed themselves  through  the  palace,  but  we  can  dis- 
tinguish the  grand  apartments  from  those  used  in 
everyday  life.  Two  oblong,  rectangular  walls,  sup- 
ported by  two  parallel  lines  of  columns,  were  evidently 
used  as  guard-rooms;  there  the  crowd  of  courtiers  and 
officers  of  the  crown  assembled,  and  on  audience  or 
festival  days  hierarchically  took  up  their  positions,  each 
according  to  his  rank.  Foreign  ambassadors  waited 
there  until  the  moment  of  offering  the  gifts  or  tributes  of 
1  Cf.  Chapter  VII. 


PALACE    OF  AN   EGYPTIAN   PHARAOH    225 

their  masters ;  generals,  on  their  return  from  a  successful 
expedition,  received  there  the  reward  of  their  victory. 
Important  persons  of  Thebes  and  of  the  whole  of  Egypt 
paid  homage  there  to  Pharaoh  with  due  eloquence  and 
genuflexion.  The  semi-barbarous  pomp  of  the  Egyptian 
court  pervaded  the  place  with  its  contrasts  of  extreme 
refinement  and  African  barbarity.  It  was  displayed  in 
garments  of  almost  transparent  lawn,  and  in  skins  of 
animals,  in  paint,  in  tattooing,  in  flowers  in  profusion, 
in  strong  perfumes  on  heads  and  bodies;  perhaps 
solemn  banquets  were  given  there,  and  bestial  feasting 
succeeded  the  interminable  palavers  in  which  sovereign 
and  subjects  exchanged  the  most  extravagant  compli- 
ments, like  the  negro  or  Malgache  chiefs  of  our  day. 
An  antechamber  of  modest  dimensions  led  to  the  private 
cabinet  of  Amenothes  III.  Persons  admitted  to  the 
honour  of  the  royal  presence  suddenly  saw  before  them, 
framed  by  two  columns  of  painted  wood,  the  dais  on 
which  the  Majesty  of  the  living  Horus  deigned  to  reveal 
himself  to  them,  and,  set  off  against  the  semi-darkness, 
the  luminous  figure  of  Pharaoh.  It  appeared  to  them 
like  a  sacred  image,  in  the  stiff  attitude  of  sovereignty, 
immovable,  the  eyes  fixed,  symbolical  diadems  on  the 
forehead,  the  sceptre  and  anserated  cross  in  the  hands, 
all  shining  with  gold  and  enamel.  They  had  to  cover 
their  eyes  as  if  unable  to  endure  the  brightness  of  the 
divine  countenance,  then  to  throw  themselves  flat  on  the 
ground  and  smelling  at  the  earth,  to  wait  until  the  idol 
spoke  to  them.  The  postures  varied  according  to  their 
rank,  and  according  to  the  degree  of  favour  desirable 
to  show  them.  Some  were  left  prostrated,  nose  against 
the  ground;  others  remained  kneeling,  others  again 
stood,  but  bent  in  two;  some  enjoyed  the  privilege  of 
standing  up  straight  with  only  the  head  slightly  bent. 
Like  the  religious  services,  the  royal  receptions  were  a 
sort  of  ballet  accompanied  with  words,  each  act  of  which 
15 


226     NEW   LIGHT   ON  ANCIENT   EGYPT 

was  regulated  with  an  attention  to  detail  enough  to  have 
plunged  a  Byzantine  master  of  the  ceremonies  into 
'despair.  Persons  entered  amidst  singing,  and  left 
amidst  shouts  accompanied  by  the  sound  of  timbrels, 
and  the  conversation  which  occurred  at  the  interview 
had  to  be  spoken  in  rhythm  and  with  carefully  studied 
intonations.  A  voice  in  perfect  tune  was  required  for 
addressing  the  lords  of  the  earth,  just  as  for  addressing 
the  lords  of  heaven. 

The  bathrooms  were  numerous,  as  beseemed  a  prince 
who  was  half  a  god,  and  whose  sacerdotal  functions 
imposed  strict  cleanliness.  Three  of  them  still  contained, 
when  they  were  excavated,  the  slabs  of  stone  on  which 
the  bather  crouched  or  lay  in  order  to  be  dried  and 
massaged,  and  the  pipes  which  brought  the  water.  A 
few  bedrooms  were  near  at  hand,  with  the  platform  on 
which  the  bed  stood.  Other  rooms,  smaller  and  quite 
bare,  seem  to  have  belonged  to  the  servants.  Nothing 
has  yet  shown  us  where  the  kitchens  were,  but  so  much 
still  remains  to  be  excavated  that  there  is  every  chance 
of  seeing  them  rise  up  out  of  the  earth  during  one  of 
the  next  campaigns.  It  will  be  the  same  with  the  store- 
houses, arsenals,  granaries,  chapels,  necessary  adjuncts 
of  every  royal  or  princely  villa.  The  tombs  of  El- 
Amarna  show  us  what  intense  life  went  on  there.  The 
artist  has  drawn  there  the  palace  built  by  the  fanatic 
Khouniatonou,  son  of  Amenothe's  III,  and  the  people  of 
his  court,  almost  on  the  plan  and  with  the  decoration  of 
the  palace  of  Medinet-Habou.  In  the  hall,  Pharaoh  and 
his  family  are  receiving  some  high  functionary;  the 
guard  watches  at  the  doors,  and  chamberlains  introduce 
the  personage,  while  troops  of  slaves  bring  refreshments 
and  the  customary  gifts.  A  priest  is  busily  celebrating 
a  ceremony  of  votive  offerings  in  one  of  the  chapels. 
A  maid-servant  tucks  herself  into  bed  in  a  little  room. 
Scribes  or  inferior  employes  take  their  meals  in  their 


PALACE    OF  AN   EGYPTIAN   PHARAOH    227 

own  rooms.  A  dancing-girl  rehearses  her  steps  in  a 
retired  corner  of  the  palace,  her  companions  accompany- 
ing her  on  the  guitar,  and  they  are  all  preparing  to  shine 
at  the  fete  in  the  evening.  These  scenes  need  only  be 
transported  to  Medinet-Habou  to  repeople  the  palace, 
and  to  behold  it  as  it  was  in  the  days  of  its  splendour. 
Indeed,  the  care  with  which  the  Egyptian  artists  repre- 
sented all  the  episodes  of  domestic  life  is  carried  so  far, 
that  we  may  sometimes  read  above  the  figures  the  most 
characteristic  of  the  conversations  they  held;  the  echo 
of  their  talk  reaches  us  faint  and  broken  through  the 
distance  of  time.  In  going  through  the  rooms  we  in- 
stinctively restore  the  furniture  to  its  place,  the  beds, 
with  lion's  head  and  feet,  piled  with  their  red  mattresses, 
the  arm-chairs,  the  small  tables,  the  variegated  boxes, 
the  perfume  and  kohol  pots,  all  that  belongs  to  the 
world  of  Egyptian  coquetry.  It  would  not  surprise  us 
to  meet  in  some  retired  corner  the  sleeping  maid-servant, 
or  the  dancing-girl  rehearsing  her  steps. 


XXXI 

AN  EGYPTIAN   BOOK   OF   PROPHECIES 

LIKE  the  Hebrews,  the  Egyptians  had  their  holy  pro- 
phets, whose  predictions  circulated  from  mouth  to 
mouth,  were  then  written  down,  and  copied  through  long 
ages  in  fragments  more  or  lesschanged  fromtheoriginal, 
and,  lastly,  became  classical  texts  read  and  commented 
on  in  the  schools.  Chance  has  preserved  little  of  these 
interesting  works,  and  that  little  is  not  always  easy  to 
understand.  The  one,  the  fragments  of  which  Lange 
has  just  analyzed,1  is  rendered  very  obscure  by  the 
lacunae  which  occur  in  every  line  of  the  text.  It  fills  one 
of  the  papyri  sold  by  Anastasi  to  the  Leyden  Museum ;  it 
was  paraphrased  in  German  by  Lauth  more  than  thirty 
years  ago,  and  I  expounded  it  at  the  Ecole  des  Hautes- 
Etudes,  but  these  various  attempts  did  not  secure  for 
it  the  attention  it  deserves.  Now,  again,  Lange  gives 
only  a  summary  interpretation,  translating  the  phrases 
which  seem  to  him  most  clear,  and  indicating  the  prob- 
able meaning  of  the  others,  intending  to  prove  his 
assertions  in  a  memoir  to  appear  shortly.  He  will  have 
plenty  to  do  to  explain  the  detail;  so  far,  however,  he 
has  defined  the  framework  and  indicated  the  plan  with 
sufficient  clarity  to  enable  us  to  form  an  opinion  on  the 
value  of  the  work. 

The  prophet  was  named  Apoui ;  we  are  not  told  if  it  was 
his  vocation  to  predict  the  future,  or  if  the  divine  spirit 

1  H.  O.  Lange :  "  Prophezeiungen  eines  .^gyptischen  Weisen 
aus  dem  Papyrus  I,  344,  in  Leiden,"  in  the  Sitzungsberichte  of  the 
Berlin  Academy  of  Sciences,  XXVII,  1903. 

228 


EGYPTIAN   BOOK   OF   PROPHECIES    229 

seized  him  by  chance,  as  it  did  Amenophis,1  the  potter, 
for  the  beginning  of  the  volume  has  disappeared.  When 
the  text  becomes  fairly  coherent,  the  hero  is  standing 
before  Pharaoh.  He  is  speaking  as  beseems  a  prophet, 
and  his  whole  discourse  is  of  the  disasters  that  are 
about  to  fall  on  Egypt.  Family  ties  will  be  broken, 
society  will  be  overturned,  dejection  will  lay  hold  of 
all  the  people.  "It  is  in  vain  that  the  Nile  will 
overflow,  the  fields  will  no  longer  be  cultivated  by  its 
aid ;  each  man  will  say  :  '  What  is  the  use  of  it  ?  Do  we 
not  know  what  is  going  to  happen  to  the  land?'  The 
women  will  be  barren,  for  Khnoumou,  the  god  of  birth, 
will  not  help  them  because  of  the  condition  of  Egypt. 
People  of  lowly  rank  will  become  the  possessors  of  all  the 
valuables,  so  that  he  who  lacked  the  wherewithal  to  pro- 
cure himself  a  pair  of  sandals  will  be  the  owner  of  gran- 
aries full  of  grain.  Terrible  epidemics  will  break  out 
which  will  attack  all  classes  alike.  The  plague  will  lay 
hold  of  Egypt,  there  will  be  bloodshed  everywhere ;  the 
rich  will  lament,  the  poor  will  rejoice,  and  all  the  cities 
will  say  :  '  Let  us  drive  out  the  powerful  from  among  us.' 
The  expulsion  will  not  take  place  without  resistance,  and 
civil  war  will  desolate  the  valley ;  the  rivers  will  be  turned 
into  blood,  and,  although  ye  will  not  like  it,  ye  will  have 
to  drink  of  it,  and  thirst  after  water."  The  barbarians  of 
the  desert  will  profit  by  the  general  weakness  to  invade 
the  rich  black  earth  they  have  so  long  desired ;  they  will 
massacre  the  brave  people  who  resist  them,  and  the 
slaves,  being  no  more  in  bondage,  will  supplant  their 
masters.  "  They  will  hang  gold,  lapis-lazuli,  silver, 
malachite,  cornelian  round  the  necks  of  their  wives,  while 
princesses  will  be  thrown  into  the  street,  and  high-born 
dames  will  say  :  'If  only  we  had  something  to  eat !'"  And 
everything  that  exists  will  be  destroyed;  there  will  be 
no  more  taxes,  no  more  hierarchy,  no  more  privileges. 
1  Cf.  Chapter  XXV. 


230     NEW   LIGHT   ON   ANCIENT   EGYPT 

"  The  son  of  some  one  of  standing  will  no  longer  be 
preferred  to  him  who  is  the  son  of  one  of  no  rank,"  and 
"  the  very  animals  will  weep,  the  cattle  will  lament  for 
the  wretched  condition  of  the  country."  The  temples 
will  no  longer  be  respected;  the  holy  things  will  be 
desecrated  by  sacrilegious  hands.  "  The  books  of  the 
sanctuary  will  be  taken  away,  and  the  mysterious  shrines 
will  be  unveiled;  the  magic  charms  will  be  revealed; 
the  archives  will  be  opened,  and  the  titles  to  property 
be  stolen."  Violence  will  prevail  everywhere.  "  Woe 
to  me,  on  account  of  the  triumph  of  evil !" 

So  far,  royalty  was  spared,  and  it  might  be  hope'd  that 
Pharaoh  would  succeed  in  restoring  peace  lo  his  king- 
dom ;  but  he  is  attacked  in  his  turn,  and  his  impotence 
consummates  the  ruin  of  the  classes  which  depended  on 
him.  "  Behold,  the  rich  man  sleeps  without  having 
been  able  to  quench  his  thirst,  while  he  who  was  reduced 
to  beg  a  little  sour  wine  is  now  the  owner  of  well-filled 
jars.  The  owner  of  fine  stuffs  has  now  only  rags,  but  he 
for  whom  none  wove  is  possessor  of  fine  muslins.  He  who 
could  not  build  for  himself  the  poorest  sort  of  boat  is  the 
master  of  granaries  full  of  grain,  and  he  who  possessed 
granaries  has  not  even  a  boat.  He  who  lacked  water- 
melons now  possesses  them,  and  those  who  had  them 
are  now  empty  as  air.  He  who  lacked  bread  has  now  a 
granary,  and  his  larder  is  furnished  with  what  lalely  be- 
longed to  another.  He  who  had  his  head  shaved,  and 
lacked  perfumed  essences,  is  now  rich  in  pots  of  sweet- 
smelling  myrrh."  All  the  contrasts  that  wide  knowledge 
of  Egyptian  society  and  its  manners  could  suggest  to  a 
clever  writer,  abound  in  the  following  pages.  We  see 
pass  over  them  in  succession  the  beggar-woman  who  had 
no  other  mirror  than  the  water,  and  who  now  paints  her 
eyes  before  a  beautiful  disk  of  polished  metal ;  the  poor 
devils  who  formerly  could  not  obtain  a  pair  of  oxen  for 
their  plough  suddenly  find  themselves  possessors  of  a 


EGYPTIAN   BOOK   OF   PROPHECIES    231 

whole  herd ;  the  workman  without  one  slave  is  the  master 
of  hundreds  of  serfs;  the  rich  man  of  former  days  is  in 
these  unhappy  times  compelled  to  sit  as  a  parasite  at  the 
table  of  a  man  who  was  formerly  poor,  and  is  now  pro- 
moted to  be  rich  in  his  turn.  For  those  who  can  read  the 
original,  it  is  clear  that  that  portion  of  the  prophecy  was 
in  a  very  elaborate  style.  Alliteration  abounds,  and 
every  sentence  moves  to  a  fairly  regular  rhythm ;  in  more 
than  one  case  I  should  even  say  that  there  were  asso- 
nances, if  our  ignorance  of  the  exact  pronunciation  did 
not  compel  me  to  step  warily.  It  is  certain  that  the  bril- 
liancy of  expression,  and  the  sonority  of  the  elocution, 
concealed  the  poverty  and  banality  of  the  matter  from 
the  auditors.  Now  we  are  most  struck  by  all  that  is  com- 
monplace in  the  inspiration  of  the  prophet,  and  fail  to 
understand  what  were  the  qualities  that  justified  his  suc- 
cess. The  text,  robbed  of  what  assured  it  its  literary 
value,  and  stripped  of  its  prophetic  importance,  has  only 
one  sort  of  interest  for  us :  it  reveals  to  us  numerous 
details  of  the  life  of  the  time  that  the  sculptured 
monuments  fail  to  give. 

Like  most  of  his  kind,  however,  the  prophet  was  too 
prudent  to  leave  his  hearers  or  readers  with  an  impression 
of  terror,  or  even  of  sadness.  After  enumerating  at 
length  the  misfortunes  of  his  people,  he  had  to  promise 
them  at  equal  length  a  triumphant  return  of  prosperity. 
Following  the  particular  rhetorical  form,  a  sovereign 
raised  up  by  God  will  suddenly  appear,  and  "  will  bring 
fresh  water  for  the  burning  flames.  It  is  said  he  is  the 
shepherd  of  all  men,  who  has  no  evil  in  his  heart,  and 
when  his  flock  goes  astray,  spends  the  day  in  seeking  it." 
He  restores  peace,  and  under  his  beneficent  influence 
social  life  flourishes  again,  marriages  again  become  fruit- 
ful, safety  reigns  on  all  the  highways.  Egypt,  having 
recovered  her  warlike  power,  the  races  who  surround  her, 
Bedouins,  Negroes,  Libyans,  again  submit  to  her  yoke. 


232     NEW   LIGHT   ON   ANCIENT   EGYPT 

In  that  portion  of  the  manuscript  the  lacunae  are  so  con- 
siderable that  the  text  cannot  be  restored.  We  can 
scarcely  deduce  the  series  of  ideas  from  the  fragments  of 
phrases  we  decipher,  we  feel  them  rather. 

It  is,  however,  clear  that  the  dominating  idea  is  that 
of  the  good  shepherd ;  the  prophet  draws  an  ideal  portrait 
of  him,  and  liberally  endows  him  with  the  virtues  that 
the  Egyptians  exacted  of  the  model  Pharaoh.  He  must 
be  both  administrator  and  general,  in  order  to  enrich  his 
people  by  the  arts  of  war  as  well  as  by  those  of  peace. 
For  the  Egyptian,  happiness  consists  in  not  working 
himself,  or  at  least  in  doing  as  little  work  as  possible, 
and  in  enjoying  the  material  comfort  to  which  his  fortune 
gives  him  a  right.  Delicate  fare,  fine  clothes,  precious 
jewels,  a  house  cool  in  summer  and  warm  in  winter,  a 
garden  with  an  artificial  lake  to  which  he  repairs  to 
breathe  "  the  soft  wind  of  the  north,"  songs,  dances,  a 
harem,  are  the  things  he  craves.  The  king  predicted  by 
the  prophet  will  ensure  his  subjects  this  lazy,  sensual 
existence  until  the  day  comes  when  death  exiles  them  to 
the  domain  of  Osiris;  in  his  wars  he  will  gain  what  is 
required  to  spare  them  the  need  to  work,  gold,  silver, 
perfumes,  stuffs,  and,  above  all,  male  and  female  slaves 
who  will  dig  the  ground,  practise  trades,  recruit  the 
army,  will  be  the  producers  of  their  luxuries  and  the 
instruments  of  their  pleasures. 

The  themes  chosen  are  not  of  a  high  order,  and  their 
treatment,  at  least  to  us,  does  not  compensate  for  the 
banality  of  the  inspiration.  Apoui  does  not  appear  to 
great  advantage  if  compared  with  some  of  the  Hebrew 
prophets.  It  must  not,  however,  be  hastily  concluded 
that  the  prophetic  literature  of  Egypt  was  always  so 
poor  in  quality  and  sentiment.  All  who  took  up  pro- 
phesying, either  professionally  or  as  amateurs,  were  not 
necessarily  men  of  genius ;  for  a  few  Isaiahs,  how  many 
poor  rhetoricians  there  were  among  the  Hebrews  !  Apoui 


EGYPTIAN   BOOK    OF   PROPHECIES    233 

certainly  knew  all  the  threads,  and  must  have  success- 
fully manipulated  them,  since  his  book  was  copied  long 
after  his  day,  but  we  no  longer  appreciate  the  turns  of 
his  language,  and,  when  we  study  ancient  Egypt, 
matter  interests  us  more  than  form,  and  with  him  the 
matter  is  mediocre.  What  gives  him  worth  in  our  eyes 
is  the  fact  that,  so  far,  he  is  the  first  to  show  us  a  frag- 
ment of  what  was  a  branch  of  Egyptian  literature.  We 
knew  that  the  Pharaohs  had  a  priesthood  specially 
charged  to  inform  them  of  the  will  of  the  gods ;  were  its 
members  always  professionals,  who  uttered  the  oracles 
in  few  words,  without  any  pretension  to  literary  style,  or 
were  there  some  among  them  who  prided  themselves  on 
their  fine  language?  We  now  know  that  prophecy  on 
occasion  had  a  literary  form  among  the  Egyptians,  as 
among  the  Semites;  it  was  so  under  the  Xllth  Dynasty, 
to  which  Apoui  is  said  to  have  belonged,  and  it  was 
doubtless  so  under  earlier  Dynasties.  We  hope  some 
day  to  find  other  and  better  works  of  a  similar  sort, 
which  may  worthily  stand  beside  the  great  Hebrew 
prophecies. 


XXXII 

THE  EGYPTIAN   ORIGIN  OF  THE  ATTIC   DIONYSUS 

THE  Athenians  knew  that  Dionysus  came  to  them  from 
abroad,  but  otherwise  had  only  confused  ideas  about  his 
origin.  Foucart  has  just  discovered  it  in  Egypt,  in  the 
Osiris  of  the  Infernal  Regions.1  It  is  not  his  first  at- 
tempt at  such  researches,  for  ten  years  ago  he  showed 
in  what  close  relations  the  Eleusinian  mysteries  stood  to 
the  religion  of  Egypt.2  The  thesis  he  there  laid  down 
caused  more  astonishment  than  approbation  in  the 
classical  world.  The  Hellenists  of  the  present  day  often 
treat  the  East  as  the  Hellenes  did  in  old  days.  The 
latter  knew,  associated  with  and  ruled  Egyptians,  Chal- 
daeans,  Assyrians,  and  Phoenicians  for  centuries,  and 
could  have  given  us  exact  information  about  them;  but 
to  do  that  they  would  have  had  to  learn  barbarous 
tongues,  to  have  consulted  books  written  in  complicated 
characters,  to  have  deciphered  inscriptions,  in  fact,  to 
have  taken  a  great  deal  of  trouble.  They  preferred  to 
make  their  inquiries  of  the  dragomans,  and  to  beg  tales 
of  them,  rounding  off  what  they  thus  learned  with  in- 
ventions of  their  own  brains.  If,  perchance,  a  native, 
Manetho  or  Berosus,  tried  to  correct  them,  they  did 
not  take  the  trouble  to  copy  their  works  and  read 
them.  The  Hellenists  have  behaved  in  the  same  way. 
Ancient  tradition  showed  them  the  part  that  the  East 

1  "  Le  Culte  de  Dionysos  en  Attique,"  par  P.  Foucart,  Member  of 
the  Institute.     (Extract  from  the  Mtmoires  de  PAcacttmie  des  Inscrip- 
tions et  Belles-Lettres,  Vol.  xxxvii.     1904.) 

2  Cf.  Chapter  VI. 

234 


ORIGIN   OF   THE   ATTIC   DIONYSUS    235 

had  had  in  the  formation  of  Greece,  and  Egypt  and 
Assyria  were  at  hand  with  documents  which  would 
enable  them  to  judge  of  the  authenticity  of  those  tradi- 
tions, but  it  would  have  been  necessary  to  free  them- 
selves from  the  classical  routine  and  to  venture  among 
hieroglyphics  and  cuneiforms.  Many  are  now  bold 
enough  to  do  so,  and  both  they  and  the  cause  of 
learning  reap  the  benefit.  It  is  M.  Foucart's  merit  to 
have  prepared  the  way,  and  those  who  follow  the  plan 
he  has  traced  will  have  every  chance  of  success. 

Everything  he  demonstrates  is  not  equally  convincing, 
and  for  a  variety  of  reasons.  Dionysus  is  a  complex 
god  in  whom  several  gods  of  differing  origins  are 
mingled.  The  legends  of  him  in  the  various  districts 
of  Greece  are  involved  and  entangled  in  each  other;  the 
meaning  of  certain  ceremonies  or  certain  names  has  be- 
come changed  or  lost  with  the  passage  of  time,  and 
ordinary  people  as  well  as  students,  no  longer  under- 
standing them,  have  lent  them  fantastic  explanations. 
Further,  it  happens  that,  with  very  few  exceptions,  the 
Sacred  emblems  and  the  formulas  of  prayer  which  might 
have  revealed  origins  were  destroyed  at  the  time  of  the 
extinction  of  paganism.  Most  of  the  characteristic  cere- 
monies were  performed  in  profound  mystery  by  a  small 
number  of  persons,  under  oath  to  reveal  nothing,  and  it 
would  have  been  sacrilege  to  repeat  even  the  most  in- 
significant detail.  The  only  things  on  which  modern 
students  can  base  their  opinions  are  fragments  of  in- 
scriptions, scattered  allusions  and  discussions  in  the 
ancient  writers,  glosses  borrowed  from  older  scholars  by 
scholiasts  of  a  later  epoch  who  did  not  wholly  under- 
stand the  texts  they  transcribed.  It  is  not  easy  to  find 
one's  way  among  this  doubtful  information,  and  to  dis- 
tinguish the  truth.  It  is  possibly  to  be  discovered  at 
points  very  distant  in  time,  and  the  interpretation  of  a 
myth  will  be  found  to  have  varied  considerably  between 


236     NEW   LIGHT   ON   ANCIENT   EGYPT 

the  fifth  century  before  and  the  second  century  after 
Christ.  It  seems  that  Dionysus  would  have  appeared  in 
the  lesser  mysteries  not  only  as  the  protector  of  agricul- 
ture, but  as  the  sovereign  of  the  Infernal  Regions.  In 
that  double  quality  he  corresponded  to  the  Egyptian 
Osiris,  but  our  information  on  the  point  is  so  scanty 
that  we  cannot  do  more  than  conjecture.  Similarly,  the 
legend  that  ascribes  the  discovery  of  vine  culture  and 
the  making  of  wine  to  Dionysus  reminds  us  that  the 
Egyptians  gave  the  honour  of  those  inventions  to  Osiris ; 
but  it  is  only  a  subordinate  feature  with  the  Egyptians, 
whereas  in  Greece  Dionysus  soon  came  to  preside,  pre- 
eminent and  unique,  over  wine.  If  the  worship  had 
not  more  completely  preserved  more  essential  character- 
istics, it  would  be  almost  impossible  to  justify  the 
identity  in  origin  of  Dionysus  and  Osiris.  The  rites  of 
the  festivals,  especially  those  of  the  Anthesteria,  are  the 
only  things  that  still  prove  it. 

The  Anthesteria  were  the  most  ancient  and  the  most 
solemn  of  the  festivals  of  Dionysus,  and  were,  besides, 
common  to  all  the  lonians;  they  comprised  almost  in- 
coherent extremes  of  joy  and  sadness,  "as  if  Shrove 
Tuesday  and  All  Saints'  Day  were  mingled  together." 
It  began  on  the  nth  of  the  month  Anthesterion,  by  the 
opening  of  the  jars  which  contained  the  new  wine.  The 
jars  uncorked,  the  next  day,  the  i2th,  the  rustics  took 
the  unfermented  grape  juice  to  the  town;  from  their 
chariots  they  apostrophized  the  passers-by,  who  returned 
their  jests  with  interest.  In  each  house  the  head  of  the 
family  invited  his  relatives  to  a  banquet  in  which  three- 
year-old  children  crowned  with  flowers  took  part  for  the 
first  time;  even  the  slaves  shared  in  the  general  jubila- 
tion, and  received  their  portion  of  wine.  Meanwhile,  by 
invitation  of  the  priest,  a  group  of  citizens  assembled  at 
the  temple ;  they  brought  provisions  in  a  basket,  and  an 
earthen  jar  holding  more  than  three  quarts  of  wine. 


ORIGIN   OF   THE   ATTIC   DIONYSUS    237 

Each  sat  down  alone  at  his  table,  and  the  sacred  hero 
having  proclaimed  the  laws  of  the  meeting,  at  a  signal 
of  the  trumpet  they  attacked  their  repast.  The  first  to 
empty  his  pitcher  received  a  skin  of  wine  as  a  prize  from 
the  archon-king  who  presided  over  the  festival.  The 
drinkers  did  not  afterwards  consecrate  the  wreaths  they 
had  worn  during  the  feast  in  the  temples,  but  placed 
them  on  their  jars  and  delivered  them  to  the  priestess  in 
the  sanctuary  of  Limnae,  and  the  losers  poured  the  wine 
left  over  as  a  libation.  That  was  the  visible  and  popular 
part  of  the  festival.  The  fundamental  rites  were  cele- 
brated in  the  sanctuary  of  the  Priest  of  Dionysus  without 
profane  witnesses.  That  sanctuary  was  the  oldest  and 
most  revered  of  any  in  Athens,  and  was  only  opened 
on  the  1 2th  Anthesterion;  the  doors  were  then  unclosed 
before  the  queen,  the  wife  of  the  archon-king,  and  before 
her  fourteen  companions.  A  sacred  herald,  probably 
he  of  Eleusis,  assisted  the  queen  when  she  exacted  an 
oath  from  her  followers  to  reveal  nothing  of  what  would 
be  done,  said,  or  seen ;  then  he  allowed  her  to  enter  the 
cell,  where  no  other  accompanied  her.  When  she  came 
out  she  was  formally  married  to  the  god,  and  the  mystic 
marriage  was  consummated  the  night  after  in  a  special 
building,  the  Boucolion,  which  had  been  the  residence  of 
the  archon-king  in  the  heroic  ages.  The  statue  of  the 
god  repaired  to  the  nuptial  house,  where  it  stayed  until 
the  morrow,  after  which  it  returned  to  the  sanctuary,  and 
the  doors  closed  behind  it  until  the  i2th  Anthesterion  of 
the  next  year.  The  festival  concluded  on  the  i3th  with 
a  veritable  funeral  offering,  in  which  neither  priest  nor 
magistrate  intervened.  During  the  night  each  family 
put  a  new  saucepan  on  the  fire  and  cooked  in  it  without 
meat  a  mixture  of  flour  and  all  sorts  of  grain.  No  one 
ate  of  it,  but  it  was  offered  for  the  dead  before  Hermes, 
the  conductor  of  souls,  and  before  Dionysus,  the  two 
divinities  of  the  Infernal  Regions.  The  Anthesteria, 


238     NEW   LIGHT   ON   ANCIENT   EGYPT 

begun    noisily    in    drunken    revels,    ended    silently    in 
solemn  mourning. 

Those  mysteries,  so  sacred  to  the  ancients,  would  be 
incomprehensible  to  us  if  certain  details  did  not  reveal 
their  purpose  and  analogy.  The  queen's  companions 
were  fourteen  in  number,  and  offered  sacrifices  to 
Dionysus  on  fourteen  altars,  with  other  ceremonies  not 
less  secret  than  the  rest.  The  ceremonial  commemorated 
both  the  number  of  murderers  who,  according  to  the 
Cretan  legend,  massacred  Dionysus,  and  the  number  of 
pieces  into  which  they  divided  the  corpse.  Foucart  rightly 
mentions  the  Egyptian  legend  in  which  Typhon,  having 
assassinated  Osiris,  tore  his  victim  into  fourteen  pieces, 
which  he  scattered  among  the  nomes.  Isis  collected 
them,  put  them  together,  and  from  their  union  drew  her 
Osiris,  whom  she  resuscitated.  The  passion  and  resur- 
rection of  Osiris  took  place  every  year  in  all  the  temples 
of  Egypt,  at  the  festivals  of  the  month  of  Kihak.  The 
sisters  Isis  and  Nephthys,  assisted  by  Horus  and 
Anubis,  made  in  fourteen  moulds  the  fourteen  pieces 
of  which  the  divine  body  had  been  reconstructed,  and 
then  combined  them  into  a  perfect  statue.  They  then 
endowed  the  statue  with  life,  and  rising  from  its  funeral 
couch,  it  became  again  the  god  himself.  Osiris,  thus 
called  into  being,  took  up  all  his  functions  again,  even 
to  uniting  himself  with  Isis>  a  circumstance  Foucart 
has  perhaps  not  quite  sufficiently  demonstrated,  and 
was  replaced  in  his  tomb  by  another  image  for  use  at 
the  festival  of  the  following  year.  Our  knowledge  of 
the  ceremonies  of  the  Anthesteria  scarcely  permits  us  to 
doubt  that  the  Egyptian  Osiris  was  the  original  of  the 
Attic  Dionysus.  We  have  in  both  cases  the  resurrec- 
tion of  a  god  who  had  been  treacherously  mutilated. 
The  number  of  pieces  is  the  same,  and  the  march  of 
events  identical :  just  as  Isis  sought  everywhere  for  the 
remains  of  Osiris,  so  Demeter  never  rested  till  she  had 


ORIGIN   OF   THE  ATTIC   DIONYSUS    239 

gathered  together  those  of  Dionysus,  and  only  after  she 
had  restored  the  body  did  the  god  come  again  into  exist- 
ence. The  mysteries  of  the  I2th  Anthesterion  exactly 
reproduced  the  principal  features  of  the  Egyptian  legend 
and  the  practices  to  which  it  gave  rise.  The  queen  and 
her  companions  entered  the  temple  where  the  statue  had 
rested  since  the  preceding  year,  and  pretended  to  search 
for  the  fourteen  pieces  of  the  god ;  then  the  queen  alone 
put  them  together,  and  having  formed  a  new  image  she 
took  it  in  her  arms,  and  carried  it  into  the  sanctuary  in 
order  to  bring  it  to  life.  We  do  not  know  what  deeds 
she  performed,  or  what  formulas  she  used,  but  their 
result  was  immediately  manifest.  Dionysus  rose  out  of 
the  darkness,  alive,  young,  and  vigorous,  and  went  to 
the  Boucolion  to  contract  marriage  with  the  wife  of  the 
archon-king.  The  next  day  he  returned  to  his  temple 
to  die  and  to  be  resolved  again  into  his  fourteen  pieces, 
and  then  he  fell  back  into  the  solitude  of  his  tomb.  The 
placing  of  the  saucepans  on  the  fire,  the  cooking  and 
offering  of  various  grains  and  of  flour,  clearly  point  to 
the  funeral  signification  of  the  rites  with  which  the 
Anthesteria  concluded.  Families  took  advantage  of  the 
moment  when  the  sanctuary  closed  on  the  inanimate  god 
to  entrust  him  to  take  to  their  dead  relatives  the  nourish- 
ment of  which  they  imagined  they  would  have  need. 

The  Egyptian  style  of  these  ideas  did  not  fail  to  strike 
those  students  who  knew  something  of  the  researches  of 
Egyptologists,  and  the  proof  would  be  absolute  if  our 
knowledge  of  the  ancients  was  as  connected  and  co- 
ordinate as  Foucart  presents  it.  Unfortunately  it  is  so 
isolated  and  disjointed  that  many  Hellenists  will  be 
inclined  to  ask  if  Foucart  has  not  in  all  good  faith  him- 
self introduced  what  seems  to  him  the  Egyptian  element 
in  the  festival  of  Dionysus,  based  on  his  opinion  that 
Greece  has  borrowed  much  from  Egypt.  In  order  that 
his  ideas  should  be  credited  by  Hellenists,  he  must 


240     NEW   LIGHT    ON   ANCIENT   EGYPT 

wait  until  the  progress  of  Egyptian  studies  and  the  ex- 
cavations on  Hellenic  soil  have  banished  the  distrust 
that  has  so  long  prevailed  in  their  minds.  Perhaps  it 
will  not  be  as  long  as  he  fears.  Crete  has  arisen  at  the 
extremity  of  the  ^Egean  Sea  with  its  brilliant  civiliza- 
tion ;  it  leaves  the  domain  of  fable  to  which  modern  critics 
relegated  it,  for  the  reality  of  history.  As  its  monuments 
are  revealed  to  us,  we  see  how  strongly  they  betray  the 
influence  of  the  East,  that  of  Egypt  and  Chaldaea.  It 
was  no  empty  boast  of  the  Theban  Pharaohs  of  the 
XVIIIth  Dynasty  when  they  assumed  the  title  of  the 
masters  of  the  Very  Green  islands;  their  ships  landed 
there,  and  if  the  supremacy  they  exercised  was  slight 
and  unstable,  it  did  not  the  less  exist.1  There  is  little  likeli- 
hood that  the  ruins  have  in  store  for  us  documents  that 
will  give  us  information  concerning  the  reflux  of  ideas 
and  rites  from  the  Delta  to  the  Archipelago  and  the 
continent  of  Europe.  But  as  soon  as  the  material  facts 
of  the  commercial  and  political  relations  are  demon- 
strated to  the  Hellenists,  spiritual  relations  will  follow 
of  themselves,  and  the  traditions  of  Egyptian  colonies 
or  of  religious  borrowings  that  they  have  hitherto  so 
decidedly  put  aside,  will  have  credence  in  their  eyes 
as  they  have  long  had  in  ours. 

1  Cf.  Chapter -V. 


XXXIII 

A   NEW  TOMB   IN   THE   VALLEY   OF  THE  THEBAN    KINGS 

IT  will  soon  be  four  years  since  Theodore  Davis, 
an  American  travelling  in  Egypt,  asked  and  obtained 
permission  to  explore  the  valley  of  the  kings  at  Thebes. 
He  undertook  the  task  in  no  egotistical  spirit;  he  paid 
the  workmen  and  made  the  excavations,  but  we  retain  all 
that  he  found,  except  a  few  duplicate  pieces  which  we 
presented  to  him  by  way  of  souvenir.  And  it  is  a  great 
merit  on  his  part  to  be  contented  with  so  little,  for  the 
plan  of  campaign  elaborated  there  at  the  beginning  of 
the  operations  by  the  director-general  and  by  Mr.  Carter, 
chief  inspector  of  the  Said,  results  every  winter  in 
important  finds.  At  the  very  beginning,  in  1903,  the 
tomb  of  Thoutmosis  IV  was  discovered,  with  its  marvel- 
lous embroideries,  blue  pottery,  pieces  of  painted  wood 
or  of  statues,  his  state  chariot  with  the  chased  seat.  In 
1904  Queen  Hatshopsouitou  rendered  up  her  three  fine 
limestone  sarcophagi.  It  is  now  the  turn  of  louiya, 
father  of  one  of  the  most  famous  princesses  of  the 
XVIIIth  Dynasty,  Tiyi,  wife  of  Amenothes  III,  and 
mother  of  Amenothes  IV.  The  former  tombs  had  been 
repeatedly  rifled  and  plundered  by  a  band  of  negroes 
under  the  XlXth  and  XXth  Dynasties;  the  quantity  of 
fragments  found  there  which  we  regard  as  wealth,  are 
merely  what  those  old  robbers  left  behind.  The  tomb 
just  discovered,  however,  was  violated  with  discretion 
by  persons  who  almost  possessed  respect  for  the  dead, 
and  who  were  in  too  great  a  hurry  to  despoil  it 
1 6  241 


242     NEW   LIGHT   ON   ANCIENT  EGYPT 

thoroughly;  if  they  broke  open  the  coffins  and  took  the 
jewels  from  the  mummies,  they  did  not  touch  the 
equipment. 

The  architects  did  not  greatly  exert  their  imaginations 
when  drawing  up  their  plans,  and  the  work  did  not  make 
a  very  big  hole  in  the  royal  treasury.  They  chose  a  site 
sufficiently  removed  from  those  reserved  by  the  four 
Thoutmosis  for  their  resting-places;  it  was  situated  near 
the  spot  where  one  of  the  ravines  that  furrow  the  eastern 
slope  of  the  hill  joins  the  central  wady.  They  hollowed 
out  a  staircase  of  about  thirty  steps  which  runs  at  first 
open  to  the  sky,  and  then  plunges  into  the  rock,  and 
leads  to  a  narrow  door  just  high  enough  for  a  man  of 
medium  height  to  enter  without  knocking  his  forehead 
against  the  lintel.  It  leads  scarcely  into  a  chamber,  but 
rather  into  a  rectangular  cavity,  roughly  hollowed  out  in 
the  rock,  ill-quarried,  low-ceilinged,  unornamented  either 
by  sculpture  or  painting,  hardly  capable  of  holding  the 
coffins  and  the  rest  of  the  funerary  gear.  The  last  of  the 
Egyptians  to  visit  it  had,  in  withdrawing,  filled  up  the 
portion  of  the  staircase  which  lay  level  with  the  ground, 
then  the  water  which  flows  in  torrents  through  the  ravine 
on  stormy  days  had  carried  down  to  the  embankment  so 
compact  a  bed  of  loose  pebbles  and  sand  that  the  work- 
men's pickaxes  had  difficulty  in  breaking  it  up.  Mr. 
Quibell,  who  had  just  succeeded  Mr.  Carter  in  the 
superintendence  of  the  works,  managed  to  pierce  it,  and 
had  already  got  at  the  upper  steps  when  his  professional 
duty  sending  him  to  show  the  Temple  of  Edfou  to 
the  Duke  of  Connaught,  he  was  deprived  of  the  pleasure 
of  opening  the  tomb  with  Mr.  Davis.  It  seemed  that 
the  thieves,  after  despoiling  the  mummy,  felt  some 
qualms  of  conscience  at  carrying  off  in  addition  to 
the  jewels,  certain  objects  easy  of  transport,  for  there 
were  found  on  the  steps  a  scarab  in  green  stone, 
pieces  of  an  alabaster  vase,  the  painted  and  gilded 


~. 


TOMB  IN  VALLEY  OF  THEBAN  KINGS    243 

yoke  of  a  chariot,  a  walking-stick  with  a  gilded  knob, 
a  large  roll  of  illuminated  papyrus;  a  parcel  of  onions 
and  of  dried  herbs  had  been  carelessly  thrown  on  to 
a  bench  at  the  left  of  the  staircase.  On  February 
1 2th,  in  the  evening,  the  door  appeared  half  hidden 
under  the  dust;  on  the  I3th,  in  the  morning,  it  was 
completely  laid  open  to  view,  and  the  wall  which 
enclosed  it  was  visible  in  its  full  height.  The  bricks  had 
kept  the  coating  of  fine  clay  which  the  masons  had  given 
it  on  the  evening  of  the  funeral,  and  the  exact  impress  of 
the  seals  placed  on  it  by  the  guardians  of  the  necropolis,  a 
jackal  couchant,  and  underneath  three  rows  of  kneeling 
prisoners,  their  arms  bound  behind  their  backs.  The 
thieves  had  destroyed  the  two  or  three  upper  courses  in 
order  to  enter  by  the  opening,  and  there  could  be  seen 
in  confusion  at  the  end  a  heap  of  dark  objects,  relieved 
here  and  there  with  gold  at  points  where  they  caught 
the  light. 

Nothing  is  rarer  now  in  the  Theban  necropolis  than 
virgin  tombs;  I  have  only  found  one  in  eleven  years,  that 
of  Sannotmou,  and  it  belonged  to  people  of  the  poorer 
class.  The  tomb  we  are  considering  sheltered  persons 
of  very  high  rank,  and  it  was  so  filled  up  from  floor  to 
ceiling  that  at  first  sight  it  seemed  untouched;  but  on 
closer  inspection  the  action  of  the  malefactors  became 
evident.  The  large  black  and  gilded  coffin  of  the  upper 
row  was  yawning  open,  the  panels  warped,  the  boards 
disjointed,  the  cover  fallen  on  one  side,  the  mummy 
reduced  to  a  bundle  of  torn  rags;  but  the  rest  of  the 
objects  remained  as  they  had  been  arranged  during  the 
ceremony  of  the  interment.  The  space  between  the  top  of 
the  brick  wall  and  the  lintel  of  the  door  is  narrow  enough, 
but  there  is  no  slit  behind  which  an  archaeologist  suspects 
he  may  find  something  new  or  unknown  too  small  for 
him  to  get  through.  He  undergoes  much  discomfort, 
but  he  manages  to  squeeze  through,  and  once  he  has  set 


244     NEW   LIGHT   ON  ANCIENT  EGYPT 

foot  in  the  chamber  seems  to  have  left  behind  him  all  the 
centuries  that  have  elapsed  since  the  dead  man  was  alive ; 
the  mummy  has  just  descended  to  the  vault,  the  celebrant 
performs  the  last  rites,  the  acolytes  finish  placing  the 
furniture  and  the  offerings.  Its  whole  appearance  would 
almost  lead  us  to  mistake  it  for  that  of  Maiharpiriou ; 1 
it  suggests  the  epoch  of  Thoutmosis  IV  or  Amenothes 
III,  and  the  first  impression  is  justified  by  a  reading  of  the 
inscriptions.  On  a  wooden  arm-chair  there  is  mention 
of  the  Princess  Sitamanou,  daughter  of  Amenothes  III, 
then  on  a  phial  the  cartouche  of  Amenothes  himself,  and 
elsewhere  on  coffins,  boxes,  statuettes,  vases,  with  the 
most  unexpected  variants  in  the  spelling,  two  names, 
almost  famous,  those  of  the  lady  Touiyou  and  of  her  hus- 
band, the  hereditary  prince,  the  first  among  the  friends 
of  the  sovereign,  he  whom  the  lord  king,  the  divine 
father  made  great,  loved  by  his  master  louiya.  Fortune, 
which  often  betrays  us,  has  this  time  deigned  to  shower 
its  favours  on  Mr.  Davis;  it  has  led  him  to  the  house  of 
the  father  of  the  queen  Tiyi,  about  whose  origin  students 
have  held  so  many  strange  opinions.  Many  things  in 
her  funeral  trousseau  were  given  her  by  the  members 
of  her  family,  children,  sons-in-law,  grandchildren ; 
Pharaoh  himself  must  have  seen  them  to  decide  if  they 
were  worthy  of  being  offered  to  a  person  who  stood  so 
near  him,  and  our  hands  in  touching  them  are  perhaps 
the  first  to  efface  the  traces  of  his. 

The  thieves  made  a  clear  place  near  the  foot  of  the 
coffin  in  order  to  carry  on  their  depredations  more  con- 
veniently, and  at  the  south  of  the  chamber  the  ground  is 
visible  on  a  surface  of  two  or  three  square  feet.  We  know 
both  from  the  texts  and  the  pictured  representations  that 

1  A  tomb  not  far  from  this  one  discovered  by  M.  Loret  in  1899. 
Maiharpiriou — the  lion  on  the  fields  of  battle — was  the  son  of  a  Pharaoh 
of  the  XVIIIth  Dynasty,  probably  Thoutmosis  III,  and  of  a  black 
princess.  The  complete  equipment  of  his  tomb  is  now  in  the  Cairo 
Museum. 


245 

the  statues  of  the  double,  the  mummies,  the  chests,  the 
sarcophagi,  all  the  funerary  gear  had  to  be  placed  on  the 
ground  itself  or  on  the  solid  stone;  it  ought  to  rest  on 
sand,  but  the  tombs  to  which  we  have  usually  had  access 
were  in  such  confusion  that  it  was  impossible  for  us 
to  determine  to  what  point  the  prescriptions  of  the  ritual 
had  been  observed.  Here  the  bed  of  sand  exists  as  it  had 
been  prepared  by  the  workmen  of  the  necropolis,  and  it 
held  all  the  objects.  They  present  an  incredible  variety, 
and  we  might  say  that  they  multiplied  before  our  eyes 
as  our  candles  lighting  the  chamber  caused  them  to  rise 
up  out  of  the  gloom.  Two  draped,  wooden  rectangles 
leaned  against  the  wall,  probably  two  of  the  low  frames 
consecrated  to  Osiris  Vegetating.  The  form  of  a  large 
mummified  Osiris  was  drawn  on  the  stuff,  face  uncovered, 
arms  free,  diadem  on  brow,  and  was  then  filled  in  with 
the  seed  of  barley  or  corn,  which  was  gently  watered 
until  the  grain  began  to  sprout.  When  the  stalk  was  a 
few  inches  high  it  was  laid  down  flat  and  the  whole 
enveloped  in  wrappings.  It  was  an  allegorical  defini- 
tion of  the  destinies  of  the  soul;  man  would  grow  as 
did  the  buried  grain,  and  from  his  death  arose  another 
life  as  vigorous  and  fruitful  as  the  first.  An  arm-chair 
in  dark  wood,  ornamented  with  reliefs  and  gilded  in- 
scriptions leaned  against  the  wall  between  the  beds, 
respondents  worked  with  gold  or  silver  wire  were  piled 
up  in  a  corner ;  the  tomb  must  have  contained  an  extra- 
ordinary amount  of  goldsmiths'  work  for  the  thieves 
to  have  left  so  much  behind.  The  statuettes  are  with- 
out a  scratch,  the  chests  are  intact,  and  that  the  colours 
are  dulled  is  due  to  the  slight  veil  of  dust  spread  over  them 
by  the  passage  of  time.  They  soon  become  bright  again 
when  it  is  carefully  wiped  off.  The  northern  part  is 
less  piled  up  with  rubbish,  and  the  wealth  is  equally 
great :  we  found  the  arm-chair  inscribed  with  the  name 
of  Sitamanou,  little  figures,  boxes  for  respondents) 


246     NEW   LIGHT   ON  ANCIENT   EGYPT 

perfume-pots,  all  sorts  of  provisions,  jars  full  of  essences 
for  the  ritual,  weapons.  At  the  end  against  the  wall 
was  a  chariot  with  its  pole,  its  axle,  its  wheels,  its  har- 
ness, and,  if  it  resists  the  action  of  the  air,  the  Cairo 
museum  will  at  last  possess  what  exists  nowhere  else, 
a  whole  chariot  ready  for  the  horses  to  be  yoked  to  it. 

Much  time  must  elapse  before  we  shall  know  exactly 
what  unsuspected  marvels  the  ingenious  packing  of  the 
tomb  still  hides;  the  removal  of  the  treasures  and  the 
methodical  inventory  are  to  be  begun  at  once.  Messrs. 
Quibell  and  Weigall,  the  inspectors  of  the  service,  will 
share  their  task  with  Malvezzi,  Ayrton,  and  Parabeni, 
who  will  kindly  leave  their  own  excavations  to  lend  us 
a  helping  hand;  they  will  measure  the  objects  one  after 
the  other,  number  them,  photograph  them,  pack  them, 
and  Mr.  Lindon  Smith  will  copy  in  water-colour  those  of 
which  the  colours  are  in  most  danger  of  fading.  Mr. 
Davis  will  take  the  most  fragile  on  board  his  dahabieh  in 
order  to  save  them  from  the  jolting  of  a  railway  journey, 
the  others  will  be  put  into  cases  and  entrusted  to  the  Said 
express.  In  three  weeks  louiya  will  arrive  at  Cairo  with 
all  of  her  trousseau  that  the  thieves  of  old  consented  to 
leave  her.  Objects  arranged  in  museums  bear  the  same 
relation  to  those  that  remain  in  their  legitimate  places 
as  the  most  skilfully  stuffed  animal  bears  to  the  creature 
who  has  just  died,  and  whose  limbs  are  still  filled  with 
the  last  breaths  of  life.  To  remove  them  from  the  spot 
where  their  contemporaries  had  placed  them  is  almost  to 
inflict  on  them  a  second  death,  and  to  break  the  bonds 
that  the  first  had  respected  with  the  world  to  which  they 
belonged.  I  should  have  liked  to  keep  the  hypogeum  of 
louiya  just  at  it  was  at  the  moment  of  its  discovery,  but 
it  would  have  meant  leaving  it  the  prey  of  evil  chances. 
Everything  would  have  conspired  to  hasten  its  destruc- 
tion or  its  spoliation,  the  indiscreet  curiosity  of  tourists, 
the  cupidity  of  the  Arabs,  the  unscrupulous  covetousness 


TOMB    IN  VALLEY  OF  THEBAN  KINGS    247 

of  amateur  collectors,  and  the  beasts  of  the  field  would 
not  be  more  merciful  than  men.  One  of  the  vases  we 
uncorked  contained  thick  oil,  another  almost  liquid 
honey,  which  still  preserved  its  scent.  If  it  had  been  left 
without  its  cover  on  one  of  the  steps  of  the  staircase,  near 
the  entrance  of  the  corridor,  a  marauding  wasp,  having 
strayed  into  the  Valley  of  the  Kings,  would  have  hovered 
gluttonously  round  the  jar.  We  should  have  had  to 
send  it  away  by  flapping  a  handkerchief  to  prevent  it 
taking  a  portion  of  the  honey  gathered  by  ancient  bees 
from  the  flowers  of  the  Theban  meadows  more  than  three 
thousand  years  ago. 


XXXIV 

THE   OASIS  OF  AMMON 

THE  Oasis  of  Ammon  was  familiar  to  many  of  us  in 
our  childhood.  Alexander  went  there  to  hold  consulta- 
tion with  the  god,  and  returned  a  god  himself.  Some  say 
two  crows,  others,  two  serpents,  put  him  in  the  right 
road  just  as  he  had  lost  it,  and  guided  him  within  sight 
of  the  mystic  city.  On  his  arrival,  Ammon  went  to 
salute  him,  borne  in  his  sarcophagus  on  the  shoulders  of 
the  priests,  and  uttered  the  deceptive  speech  in  the  course 
of  which  he  called  him  his  son.  He  promised  him 
dominion  over  the  universe,  and  proclaimed  that  victory 
would  be  true  to  his  flag  until  the  end.  The  Oasis  was 
far  off,  and  Alexander  said  little  of  what  he  saw  and 
heard  there.  The  world  never  knew  in  detail  what  hap- 
pened in  that  corner  of  the  desert;  it  believed  what  the 
witnesses  of  the  interview  consented  to  tell,  or  did  not 
believe  it,  and  it  did  not  laugh  more  than  was  seemly 
when  told  that  the  hero  had  a  god  for  his  father.  The 
reputation  of  Olympias  suffered  somewhat  from  the 
revelation,  but  that  would  not  have  made  any  great 
matter;  to  have  been  the  object  of  a  divine  caprice  was 
not  without  glory,  and  as  Philip  was  no  longer  there  to 
protest,  no  one  thought  of  raising  a  voice  on  his  behalf. 
The  oracle  benefited  by  the  adventure;  it  remained  the 
fashion  for  several  centuries,  and  even  when  it  had  lost 
prestige  with  the  pious,  its  name  was  not  effaced  from 
the  memory  of  new  generations.  Quintus  Curtius  and 
Plutarch  aiding,  French  school-boys  continued  to  take 
interest  in  it ;  in  accordance  with  the  syllabuses,  pupils  of 

248 


THE   OASIS   OF  AMMON  249 

French  schools  were  taught  the  part  it  played  in  the 
history  of  Alexander. 

They  would  have  been  much  embarrassed  had  they 
been  asked  to  point  out  the  exact  site,  or  if  the  ruins  of 
the  temple  in  which  Ammon  had  dwelt  still  existed.  The 
Oasis  is  not  easy  of  access,  and  since  the  oracle  of  Am- 
mon became  dumb  has  rarely  been  visited  by  travellers. 
It  would  not  take  long  to  enumerate  the  Europeans  who 
have  been  there  since  the  beginning  of  the  nineteenth 
century,  and  if  we  put  together  all  the  weeks  that  they 
spent  there  we  should  not  get  a  complete  year.  Stein- 
dorff  and  his  companions  l  stayed  there  only  twenty-one 
days,  from  December  19,  1899,  to  January  8,  1900.  The 
people  there  are  not  hospitable  to  strangers.  They  are 
divided  into  five  or  six  clans,  each  of  about  twenty 
families,  and  have  for  centuries  formed  almost  a  close 
community,  having  no  relations  of  consequence  with  the 
outer  world.  They  are  divided  into  two  political  and 
religious  factions,  into  two  $ofs,  who  usually  live  in  a 
state  of  churlish  truce,  and  who  only  keep  up  the  relations 
strictly  necessary  for  government  and  commerce.  They 
intermarry  but  little,  yet  scarcely  a  generation  passes 
without  a  civil  war,  which  is  fiercely  waged  for  months 
together,  and  only  ceases  through  general  exhaustion. 
The  last  was  in  1896,  and  it  was  one  of  the  most  ferocious. 
We  are  assured  that  160  combatants  were  left  on  the 
field,  and  that  the  losses  would  have  been  heavier  still 
had  not  Senoussi  sheikhs  come  from  Djarboub  and  inter- 
vened to  bring  about  peace.  Since  that  time  the 
Egyptian  police  has  maintained  order,  and  the  Oasis  is 
quietly  gaining  strength  for  fresh  conflicts.  Its  popula- 
tion is  a  little  under  6,000;  as  the  men  outnumber  the 
women,  there  is  very  little  polygamy.  They  speak  a 
corrupted  Berber  dialect,  interspersed  with  Arab  words. 

1  S.  Steindorff:  Durch  die  Libysche  Wuste  zur  Amonsoase.  Leipzig. 
1904. 


250     NEW   LIGHT   ON   ANCIENT   EGYPT 

There  is  scarcely  any  trade,  and  less  industry.  Caravans 
import  tobacco,  sugar,  powder,  arms,  a  few  European 
cotton  goods,  and  a  little  jewellery  at  irregular  intervals ; 
the  rest  is  made  on  the  spot  by  the  women,  or  the  artisans 
of  the  bazaar.  Dates  and  olives  are  the  chief  wealth 
of  the  people;  not  only  do  they  form  their  food,  but 
every  year  about  twelve  tons  are  exported  to  Egypt  and 
Syria.  With  the  produce  of  the  sales  they  pay  the 
tribute,  and  procure  the  few  luxuries  to  be  found  among 
them. 

It  was  almost  the  same  in  the  time  of  the  Pharaonic 
rule.  The  Theban  kings  of  the  XVIIIth  or  XlXth 
Dynasty  were  probably  the  first  to  take  firm  possession 
of  the  Oasis.  They  installed  their  god  Amonra  there, 
and  built  him  a  chapel,  in  which  he  was  enthroned,  if 
not  with  all  the  pomp,  at  least  with  all  the  rites  to  which 
he  was  accustomed  in  his  native  land.  Neighbouring 
Libyan  tribes,  already  partly  imbued  with  Egyptian 
civilization,  did  not  renounce  their  national  religion  for 
him,  but  they  frequented  his  services  and  did  him 
homage.  One  of  his  attributes  especially  struck  their 
imagination,  the  skill  with  which  he  foresaw  the  future 
and  unveiled  it  for  those  who  questioned  him  according 
to  the  prescribed  ceremonial.  His  statue  spoke  in  the 
darkness  of  the  sanctuary;  it  replied  to  the  questions 
asked  of  it  by  a  movement  of  the  head,  and  when  two 
scrolls,  each  containing  a  different  solution  of  the  same 
question,  were  placed  in  his  hands,  it  kept  hold  of  that 
which  it  considered  to  have  value,  and  let  the  other 
drop.1  The  Libyan  divinities  were  less  expert  or  less 
refined  in  manner;  their  believers  no  longer  applied  to 
them  in  serious  circumstances,  but  were  accustomed  to 
seek  the  advice  of  the  foreigner.  They  reverently 
resorted  to  him  from  every  corner  of  the  desert,  and  his 
fame  soon  reaching  the  coast,  was  spread  among  the 
1  Cf.  Chapter  XVIII. 


THE   OASIS   OF  AMMON  251 

peoples  dwelling  on  the  shores  of  the  Mediterranean. 
When  the  Dorians  colonized  Cyrene  about  the  middle  of 
the  seventh  century  B.C.  they  soon  learned  the  existence 
of  the  oracle,  and  hastened  to  consult  it ;  then  continental 
Greece,  informed  of  it  by  colonial  Greece,  began  to  send 
embassies  to  the  oracle  in  difficult  conjunctures.  From 
the  sixth  to  the  fourth  century  B.C.  two  African  oracles 
divided  the  honours;  each  had  zealous  partisans,  who 
quarrelled  unceasingly,  and  belittled  the  power  of  the 
rival  for  the  glorification  of  their  own  god.  The  oracle 
of  Bouto,  in  the  Delta,  was  upheld  by  the  lonians,  and 
the  Asiatics  grouped  round  Naucratis ;  it  seemed  to  pre- 
vail until  Egypt  was  conquered  by  the  Persians.  The 
oracle  of  Ammon  prevailed  with  the  Cyreneans,  and 
through  them  with  Hellas  proper,  but  it  did  not  attain  the 
supremacy  until  the  beginning  of  the  fifth  century,  when 
the  decadence  of  Naucratis  had  weakened  the  element 
which  upheld  the  cause  of  the  gods  of  Bouto  in  the 
world. 

The  Oasis,  enriched  by  the  continually  increasing  gifts 
of  the  pilgrims,  became  an  actual  state,  bound  to  Egypt 
by  ties  more  or  less  loose,  according  to  the  epoch.  It  had 
its  hereditary  princes,  whose  suzerainty  extended,  per- 
haps, over  some  of  the  smaller  neighbouring  oases, 
that  of  Gara,  for  example.  The  oldest  of  them  known 
to  us  is  Etearchos — perhaps  the  Egyptian  name 
Teharkou  in  Greek  dress — who  lived  in  the  time  of 
Herodotus,  and  narrated  very  curious  things  about  the 
peoples  of  the  African  desert.  The  inscriptions  copied 
by  Steindorff  reveal  the  existence  less  than  a  century 
after  him  of  three  of  his  successors :  Rauditneb,  whose 
son  Setertas  was  the  vassal  of  the  Pharaoh  Hakoris 
of  the  XXIVth  Dynasty,  and  lastly  Ounamounou,  who 
was  a  dependent  of  Nectanebo  I,  of  the  XXXth 
Dynasty.  They  found  the  temples  in  a  bad  state,  and, 
if  they  did  not  entirely  rebuild  them,  they  at  least 


252     NEW   LIGHT   ON  ANCIENT   EGYPT 

restored  them,  and  decorated  them  with  very  fair  bas- 
reliefs.  But  it  was  all  new  when  the  Macedonians 
went  to  Egypt ;  the  ruins  we  find  there  to-day  doubtless 
belong  to  the  buildings  that  Alexander  saw  when  he  con- 
sulted the  god.  They  are  purely  Egyptian  in  style,  with 
no  trace  of  Greek  influence.  They  resemble  the  small 
Theban  temples,  with  a  cell  flanked  by  two  secondary 
pieces  for  the  goddess-wife  and  the  god-son;  perhaps  it 
comprised  a  hypostyle  hall,  a  pronaos  and  a  pylon,  but 
those  elements  have  disappeared,  or  travellers  have  been 
unable  to  find  any  trace  of  them.  The  divinities  there 
are  those  of  the  Theban  Ennead,  Amonra,  his  wife, 
Maout,  Shou,  and  Tafnouit  with  the  lioness's  head, 
Gabou,  the  earth,  Nouit,  the  heaven.  The  formulas 
which  cover  the  walls  are  borrowed  from  the  oldest 
books  in  the  world,  those  the  text  of  which  is  engraved  in 
the  vaults  of  the  Pyramids,  and  the  composition  of  which 
had  already  been  long  finished  when  Menes,  the  first 
king,  ascended  the  throne.  The  chambers  in  which  we 
read  them  are  those  in  which  funerary  worship  was  rend- 
ered to  the  prince  as  to  the  dead  forms  of  Amonra.  When 
Alexander  dismounted  before  the  door  of  the  sanctuary, 
he  found  himself  in  actual  Egypt,  and  the  description 
given  by  historians  of  his  entry  is  of  a  purely  Egyptian 
ceremony.  The  divine  emblem  emerged  from  his  naos  to 
receive  him,  and  spoke  to  him  as  he  was  accustomed  to 
speak  to  his  Pharaohs  :  "  Come,  son  of  my  loins,  who 
loves  me  so  that  I  give  thee  the  royalty  of  Ra,  and  the 
royalty  of  Horus."  To  these  commonplace  salutations 
he  added  the  sacramental  promises:  "I  give  thee 
valiance,  I  give  thee  to  hold  all  countries  and  all  religions 
under  thy  feet;  I  give  thee  to  strike  all  the  peoples 
united  together  with  thy  arm."  The  litany  may  be  pro- 
longed at  will,  and  if  these  are  not  the  terms  of  the  dis- 
course heard  by  Alexander,  they  certainly  give  the  sense 
of  it;  the  meaning  it  pleased  him  to  attribute  to  them 


THE   OASIS   OF  AMMON  253 

for  the  realization  of  his  projects  of  universal  power  are 
well  known. 

I  do  not  know  if  the  excavations  will  ever  permit  us 
to  determine  the  exact  spot  where  the  conqueror  and  the 
god  so  politely  contemplated  each  other  face  to  face.  It 
would  seem  that  in  a  country  so  cut  off  from  the  rest  of 
humanity  the  monuments  of  the  past  would  be  likely 
to  be  more  completely  preserved  than  elsewhere;  even 
if  whole  buildings  are  no  longer  to  be  found,  we  ought 
to  find  the  pieces  of  which  they  were  formed  scattered 
over  the  ground.  But  the  inhabitants  of  Siouah  have  suc- 
ceeded in  almost  entirely  destroying  their  temples.  They 
have  not  torn  them  down  in  order  to  make  huts  of  the 
fragments,  as  is  so  often  the  case  on  the  banks  of  the 
Nile;  but  they  regard  them  as  the  work  of  magicians 
who  once  ruled  the  ancient  world,  and  the  eagerness 
manifested  by  Europeans  in  exploring  the  ruins  con- 
firms them  in  their  belief.  The  blocks  covered  with 
strange  pictures  are  not  what  they  seem  to  be;  they 
are  so  many  ingots  of  pure  gold,  disguised  by  the 
virtue  of  a  very  ancient  spell,  and  he  who  knows  how 
to  remove  the  spell  would  grow  as  rich  as  he  pleased. 
As  soon  as  a  piece  of  a  wall  or  an  isolated  stone  is  seen 
sticking  out  of  the  ground,  and  yields  a  metallic  sound 
when  knocked,  the  people  of  the  Oasis  break  it  into 
small  pieces  in  hope  of  exorcising  the  spell ;  although 
they  are  always  disappointed,  they  are  never  tired  of 
trying  again.  During  the  excavations  this  year,  they 
were  seen  hovering  about  with  their  hammers,  and  how- 
ever carefully  they  are  watched  it  is  to  be  feared  that 
they  will  soon  destroy  the  pillars  and  the  pieces  of  walls 
recently  brought  to  light.  The  spot  is  too  long  a 
journey  through  the  desert  from  Cairo  for  it  to  be  pro- 
tected in  any  efficient  manner,  and  the  documents  it 
conceals  are  virtually  at  the  mercy  of  a  handful  of 
greedy  and  superstitious  savages. 


XXXV 

ON  THE  REPRODUCTION   OF  EGYPTIAN  BAS-RELIEFS  1 

MANY  artists  are  inclined  to  believe  that  it  is  easy  to 
make  good  copies  of  the  Egyptian  bas-reliefs.  The  par- 
ticular method  of  presenting  figures  of  men  and  animals 
must  of  course  be  carefully  studied  if  they  are  to  be 
accurately  transcribed,  but,  taken  all  together,  they 
seem  to  present  simple  lines,  empty  surfaces,  cleanly  cut 
silhouettes,  unsymmetrical  and  awkward  action  :  it  only 
needs  a  little  attention  and  a  vast  deal  of  patience.  The 
copyist  after  making  his  sketch  works  it  over  in  the 
details,  carefully  accentuating  all  that  constitutes  the 
special  characteristics  of  Egyptian  art  in  his  eyes,  the 
eyes  and  chest  full  front,  the  face  and  torso  in  profile, 
the  arms  and  legs  alike  without  apparent  distinction 
between  the  right  and  left,  the  gait  heavy,  the  gesture 
angular.  Most  often  he  is  satisfied  with  the  result,  and 
is  pleased  with  himself  for  having  grasped  the  physi- 
ognomy of  his  model.  Some,  however,  lose  that  illusion 
as  they  proceed,  and  before  they  have  finished  perceive 
that,  where  they  thought  to  make  a  faithful  copy,  they 
have  only  produced  a  caricature. 

The  peculiar  properties  of  the  bas-reliefs  are  soon 
revealed  to  any  one  who  examines  them  with  close 
attention,  and  he  then  almost  despairs  of  ever  repro- 
ducing them  adequately  by  ordinary  means.  The  line 
which  encircles  the  bodies  with  so  precise  a  contour  is 

1  Die  Mastaba  des  Gem-ni-kai.  Edited,  in  collaboration  with 
A.  E.  P.  Weigall,  by  Friedrich-Wilhelm  von  Bissing.  Berlin,  1905. 

254 


REPRODUCTION   OF   BAS-RELIEFS     255 

not  stiff  and  inflexible  in  its  whole  length  as  it  appears 
at  a  first  glance,  but  it  undulates,  swells  out,  tapers  off, 
sinks  down  according  to  the  structure  of  the  limbs  it 
bounds,  and  the  action  that  animates  them.  The  flat 
parts  it  defines  contain  not  only  a  summary  indication 
of  the  anatomy  and  of  the  flesh  surfaces,  but  the  place 
of  the  muscles  is  marked  by  such  minute  excrescences 
and  hollows  that  we  marvel  how  the  ancient  sculptor 
could  produce  them  with  the  rude  tools  at  his  disposal.  It 
required  the  suppleness  of  the  white  limestone  of  Tourah 
to  enable  them  to  work  in  a  relief  some  ten-thousandth 
part  of  an  inch  high,  a  thing  the  modern  pen,  pencil, 
or  brush  is  impotent  to  transcribe  exactly  on  paper. 
Prisse  d'Avennes,  in  his  History  of  Egyptian  Art,  has 
sometimes  very  happily  imitated  the  suppleness  and 
elegance  of  the  general  form;  he  almost  always  sup- 
pressed the  work  of  the  chisel  between  the  enveloping 
lines  and  the  slight  and  transparent  shadows  which 
resulted  from  them.  Lepsius,  or  rather  Weiden- 
bach  who  drew  for  Lepsius,  did  even  less  than  Prisse 
d'Avennes.  By  observing  and  sketching  the  walls  of  the 
tombs  of  Memphis  he  evolved  for  himself  an  Egyptian 
style  of  agreeable  aspect  and  correct  proportions  which 
honestly  corresponded  with  the  average  human  and 
animal  types  most  frequently  used  near  the  Pyramids. 
He  guilelessly  employed  them  through  the  enormous 
volumes  of  the  Denkmaeler,  without  paying  any  heed 
to  the  innumerable  varieties  of  execution  offered  by  the 
monuments  at  successive  periods  of  their  history,  and 
even  at  the  same  epoch  in  different  localities.  His  so- 
called  facsimiles,  to  speak  the  truth,  are  merely  groups 
of  patterns  in  which  the  individual  characteristics  of 
each  piece  has  disappeared.  The  archaeological  detail  is 
scrupulously  registered,  as  well  as  the  modifications  that 
arise  in  costume,  armament,  furniture,  domestic  or  in- 
dustrial implements;  but  everything  connected  with 


256     NEW   LIGHT   ON   ANCIENT   EGYPT 

artistic  detail  is  wanting,  and  we  cannot  distinguish 
from  the  touch  what  belongs  to  the  most  ancient  epochs, 
or  to  the  Said  age.  It  can  be  easily  imagined  how  this 
has  misled  students  who  tried  to  appreciate  Egyptian 
art  by  what  they  could  learn  of  it  without  leaving  their 
own  rooms,  and  then  set  to  work  to  write  its  history. 
It  has  spoiled  the  judgment  of  two  or  three  generations ; 
they  attributed  the  monotony  they  found  in  the  repro- 
ductions to  the  originals,  and  for  half  a  century  Egypt 
was  convicted  of  possessing  a  fixed  art  lacking  personal 
inspiration  or  variety  of  handling. 

Present  day  Egyptologists  have  means  at  their  com- 
mand which  brings  the  reality  much  closer  to  them. 
Bissing  has  made  use  of  heliogravure  for  his  reproduc- 
tions of  some  of  the  tombs  of  Sakkarah,  and  if  he  found 
the  work  rather  expensive,  the  faithfulness  of  the  pic- 
tures is  so  striking  that  the  extra  cost  is  amply  repaid. 
I  do  not  mean  that  it  is  absolutely  perfect,  nor  that 
fault  is  not  to  be  found  in  certain  places.  The  tint 
employed  is  sometimes  rather  dark,  and  the  printing-off 
heavy;  here  and  there  the  ink  has  thickened  the  figures, 
and  blurred  the  contours.  Those  faults  are  almost 
inevitable  in  books  that  are  not  exclusively  editions  de 
luxe,  and  intended  only  for  collectors;  they  are  rare  in 
the  copy  I  have  before  me,  and  do  not  perhaps  exist  in 
other  copies.  In  any  case,  taken  as  a  whole,  the  volume 
is  excellent,  and  those  who  look  through  it  will  almost 
feel  that  they  have  the  document  itself  in  front  of  them. 
They  will  find  not  only  the  general  outline  of  figures 
and  objects,  but  all  the  most  delicate  marks  of  the 
chisel  with  the  play  of  light  and  shade  due  to  them. 
Each  of  the  men,  and  of  the  animals,  perhaps  in  a 
higher  degree,  has  its  peculiar  physiognomy  which  is 
stated  in  a  few  rapid  strokes.  We  see  in  one  of  the 
pictures  tame  hyaenas,  who  are  being  fattened  up 
with  food  apparently  little  to  their  liking :  they  are 


REPRODUCTION    OF   BAS-RELIEFS    257 

bound,  lying  on  their  backs,  their  four  legs  in  the 
air;  their  attitude  is  always  the  same,  but  the  manner 
in  which  they  accept  their  portion  differs  everywhere. 
Elsewhere  ducks  and  geese  undergo  a  similar  trial, 
and  they  walk  about  to  recover  their  equilibrium. 
The  sculptor  well  knew  the  peculiarities  of  each  sex, 
and  we  can  still  distinguish  his  geese  and  his  ganders 
by  the  carriage  of  the  head  or  the  shape  of  the  body; 
they  express  their  feelings,  and  their  joy  at  having  done 
with  the  uncomfortable  business  by  wagging  the  tail, 
by  grimaces,  undulations  of  the  neck,  holding  out  the 
beak  and  ruffling  the  feathers.  In  every  plate  we 
find  varieties  of  pose,  of  figures,  of  human  or  animal 
expression  that  the  pencil  failed  to  reproduce,  but  which 
the  sun  has  fixed  on  the  film  that  transferred  them  to 
the  copper;  and  the  copper  has  delivered  them  to  the 
paper  just  as  the  stone  received  them  from  the  hands  of 
the  skilful  workman  five  thousand  years  ago.  It  is 
almost  the  wall  itself  which  is  before  us,  with  its  records 
passing  before  our  eyes ;  it  is  all  there  with  the  pictures, 
the  grain  of  the  limestone,  the  polishings  of  the  chisel, 
the  sculptor's  corrections,  and  also  his  faults  where, 
distracted  probably  by  the  conversation  of  one  of  his 
companions,  he  let  the  chisel  slip  or  gave  too  hard  a 
blow  with  the  hammer.  Any  one  who  has  been  in  the 
studio  of  a  modern  craftsman  and  watched  him  at  work, 
will  at  once  discern  the  hand  of  the  ancient  sculptor  in 
the  heliogravure,  as  in  the  stone. 

The  superiority  of  the  new  method  is  especially  seen 
in  the  large  figures.  Bissing  has  divided  over  Plates 
XX  and  XXI  the  full-length  portrait  of  Kemnikai.  I 
am  sorry  that  the  format  of  the  volume  did  not  permit 
him  to  give  the  whole  figure  in  one  plate,  because  the 
effect  would  then  have  been  more  striking.  But  the 
heliogravure,  even  so  divided,  gives  a  totally  different 
impression  from  an  ordinary  drawing.  Kemnikai  is 

'7 


258     NEW   LIGHT   ON   ANCIENT   EGYPT 

standing,  the  legs  a  little  apart,  the  body  in  repose ;  he 
holds  his  long  staff  of  authority  obliquely,  the  point 
against  the  ground  and  the  right  hand  open  on  the 
knob,  while  the  left  hand  firmly  grasps  the  centre.  He 
looks  straight  before  him  at  a  scene  of  cultivation  which 
is  destroyed,  but  which  we  can  easily  reconstruct  in 
imagination,  ploughing,  sowing,  harvest,  transport  and 
threshing  of  the  grain  :  his  wife,  a  little  figure  behind 
him,  accompanies  him,  and  according  to  custom  puts 
her  arm  round  his  leg.  Any  one  who  has  looked 
through  an  illustrated  book  on  Egypt  knows  the  motif, 
but  what  they  do  not  suspect,  at  least  if  they  have  not 
lived  in  the  country,  is  the  manner,  delicate  and  strong 
at  the  same  time,  in  which  the  artists  of  Memphis 
treated  it.  Hissing's  two  plates  will  teach  them,  if  they 
take  the  trouble  to  examine  them  carefully;  the  silhouette 
is  surrounded  with  one  line  drawn  on  the  stone  with  a 
sureness  and  also  with  a  freedom  of  touch  that  never 
fails  for  a  moment.  The  old  sculptor  has  imperceptibly 
raised  the  background  all  along  the  line  in  order  to 
accentuate  the  relief,  but  it  is  so  subtly  done  that  great 
attention  is  required  to  discover  it.  The  figure,  al- 
though applied  almost  flat  on  the  stone,  is  by  that  means 
placed  in  a  sort  of  atmosphere  which  gives  more  round- 
ness to  the  contours  than  would  have  been  thought 
possible  with  a  relief  so  low  as  that  of  the  Egyptians. 
The  interior  detail  presents  a  combination  of  sharp  and 
modelled  lines,  almost  indiscernible,  that  facsimiles  in 
drawing  usually  neglect;  the  shapes  of  the  individual 
elements  of  the  face,  the  eyes,  nose,  mouth,  chin,  are 
brought  out  by  means  of  sharp  edges,  but  the  supple- 
ness of  the  muscles  and  flesh  is  expressed  by  soft  strokes 
running  one  into  the  other  which  correct  any  hardness 
there  may  be  in  the  design.  A  technique,  full  of  both 
strength  and  delicacy,  appears  everywhere  on  the  chest, 
arms,  and  legs,  surprising  to  those  who  make  the  ac- 


REPRODUCTION   OF   BAS-RELIEFS    259 

quaintance  of  the  originals  of  Egyptian  art  only  after 
being  familiar  with  them  in  the  ordinary  collections  of 
prints  and  engravings. 

Bissing  intends  to  make  similar  reproductions  of 
several  of  the  tombs  of  Sakkarah.  When  he  has 
finished  his  work  archaeologists  and  historians  will  owe 
him  much;  but  artists  will  owe  him  more,  for  he  will 
have  supplied  them  with  accurate  documents  in  which 
they  can  study  almost  as  if  at  first  hand  the  bas-reliefs  of 
the  tombs,  so  important  a  branch  of  sculpture  in  the  time 
of  the  Pyramids.  The  acquisition  of  complete  mastabas 
by  the  museums,  like  that  installed  in  the  Louvre  in 
1904,  provided  them  with  a  first  point  of  vantage,  but 
the  mastaba,  valuable  as  it  is,  did  not  reveal  the  wealth 
of  motifs,  and  the  variety  of  workmanship  to  be  found 
in  the  necropolises  of  Memphis.  If  religious  dogma 
compelled  its  contemporaries  to  decorate  their  funerary 
chapels  in  a  manner  always  identical  in  regard  to  its 
principal  lines,  it  left  them  free  to  combine  and  develop 
the  themes  according  to  taste  and  to  the  space  to  be 
filled.  In  every  generation  there  were  at  least  a  dozen 
independent  studios,  each  with  its  own  teaching, 
methods,  and  way  of  handling  the  subjects.  Books  like 
that  of  Bissing  and  of  others  who  will  follow  his  ex- 
ample, help  us  to  realize  those  personal  traditions. 
Such  volumes  will  aid  in  removing  the  prejudice  that 
prevents  many  who  are  interested  in  antiquity  from 
allowing  Egyptian  art  its  just  value. 


XXXVI 

THE  TREASURE  OF  TOUKH-EL-GARMOUS 

A  DONKEY  beaten  by  its  fellah  was  trotting  past  the 
ruins  of  Toukh-el-Garmous.  He  hit  against  a  large  vase 
buried  in  the  dust  and  smashed  it  with  the  blow.  A 
few  pieces  of  gold  thrown  up  from  the  debris  danced 
merrily  in  the  sun.  The  fellah,  seeing  them,  blessed 
Allah,  and  dismounted.  The  ass  shook  his  ears, 
stretched  his  neck,  snorted,  and  then  seeing  nothing 
to  eat  in  the  neighbourhood,  half  drowsed,  his  eye 
dimmed  with  a  distant  vision  of  fresh  water,  green 
clover,  and  chopped  straw.  But  the  fellah  wasted  no 
time  in  idle  reverie,  and  disinterred  handfuls  of  wonder- 
ful things,  chased  dishes  and  vases,  chafing-dishes, 
censers,  necklaces  and  bracelets,  gold  and  silver  coins, 
a  complete  treasury.  He  made  a  rapid  calculation  that 
by  the  tariff  at  which  tourists  purchased  antiquities  there 
would  be  over  ;£  1,200,  and  he  resolved  that  no  one  be- 
sides himself  should  reap  the  benefit.  He  distributed 
the  objects  about  his  person  in  the  mysterious  pockets 
hidden  in  the  folds  of  the  peasants'  cloaks,  and  spurred 
his  donkey  along  the  road  to  the  village  looking  as  if 
nothing  had  happened.  The  ruins  had  seemed  deserted, 
but  the  most  desolate  corners  of  Egypt  are  continually 
haunted  by  prying  eyes  which  nothing  escapes.  When 
the  man  entered  his  house,  his  right-hand  neighbour 
already  knew  of  the  find,  his  left-hand  neighbour  was 
not  ignorant  of  it,  and  both  claimed  their  share  of  the 

prize.     A  quarrel  ensued.     The  affair  was  noised  abroad, 

260 


TREASURE   OF   TOUKH-EL-GARMOUS    261 

the  local  inspector,  Mohammed  Effendi  Chaban,  warned 
by  the  ghafir  of  the  place,  carried  off  half  of  the  jewels ; 
Mr.  Carter,  inspector-in-chief  of  the  province,  seized  the 
remainder;  and  that  is  how  a  donkey's  kick  and  the 
quarrel  of  three  fellahs  enriched  our  museum  with 
invaluable  metal-work. 

The  collection  falls  into  two  series,  one  Egyptian 
in  conception  and  execution,  the  other  Greek.  The 
Egyptian  objects  number  about  twenty,  and  are  mostly 
in  silver,  and  were  probably  the  property  of  a  god  or  of 
some  private  individual  of  wealth.  We  have  not  been 
able  to  make  a  complete  inventory.  The  metal  is  so 
much  corroded  that  many  of  the  objects  can  neither  be 
cleaned  nor  separated.  Some  of  the  conglomerations  of 
fragments  resisted  all  our  attempts  at  separation,  and  we 
do  not  yet  know  if  they  represent  several  pieces  or  only 
one.  Others  have  been  separated,  and  although  en- 
crusted with  the  oxide  in  places,  it  is  quite  possible  to 
distinguish  the  decoration.  It  is  very  rich  and  of  a 
type  already  familiar  to  us  elsewhere;  there  are,  for 
instance,  half-a-dozen  deep  cups,  the  bulging  part 
decorated  with  long  petals  planted  in  a  central  rosette, 
like  the  fine  vases  discovered  at  Thmuis  thirty  years  ago 
by  Emile  Brugsch  and  exhibited  in  one  of  the  rooms  of 
the  Cairo  Museum.  Ten  cups  show  Egyptian  motifs, 
allied  here  and  there  to  Greek  ones;  at  least  once  the 
acanthus  is  joined  with  the  usual  blossoms.  The  com- 
position varies  greatly;  on  some  it  is  lighter  and  more 
restrained,  on  others  heavier  and  of  a  less  sure  taste. 
It  must  be  admitted,  however,  that  the  composition  is 
generally  admirable,  and  justifies  the  reputation  the 
Egyptian  metal-workers  hold  among  us  for  their  skill, 
chiefly  on  the  faith  of  reproductions.  Nothing  is  finer  than 
two  little  incense-burners  we  have  been  able  to  restore. 
The  lower  portion,  the  altar,  is  round,  fluted  lengthways, 
and  set  on  three  feet  of  a  lion  or  on  three  fore-parts  of  a 


262     NEW   LIGHT   ON   ANCIENT   EGYPT 

female  sphinx.  The  covers  are  egg-shaped  domes  sur- 
mounted by  a  cock.  One  of  them  is  divided  into  two 
series  of  open  flowers  alternating  with  buds ;  the  upper 
part  is  ornamented  with  lotus  sepals,  and  the  incense- 
smoke  escapes  through  the  openings  between  the  lotuses. 
The  cover  of  the  second  has  two  bands,  one  of  winged 
monsters  with  lions'  bodies,  the  other  of  grimacing 
masks  borrowed  from  the  god  Bisou;  above  them  two 
garlands  of  flowers  surround  the  dome,  skilfully  pierced 
to  let  the  smoke  escape. 

The  Greek  series  comprises  only  a  few  silver  pieces, 
but  among  them  is  one  masterpiece.  It  is  a  rhyton,  a 
drinking-horn,  the  point  of  which  is  plunged  into  the 
front  part  of  a  griffin's  body.  The  monster's  right  paw 
is  stretched  out,  the  left  is  bent  under  him,  both  wings  are 
spread,  and  the  neck  is  inflated  with  vigorous  action ;  the 
boldness  of  the  design  is  only  surpassed  by  the  delicacy 
of  its  execution.  The  gold  jewellery  is  of  equally  fine 
workmanship.  The  pieces  are  few  in  number,  but  in 
such  good  preservation,  and  so  clean,  that  we  can  appre- 
ciate their  delicacy.  In  general  aspect  and  in  the  detail 
there  is  a  resemblance  to  the  admirable  jewels  of  the 
fourth  century  which  were  discovered  in  Southern 
Russia;  if  we  did  not  know  their  Egyptian  origin  we 
should  be  tempted  to  believe  that  these  specimens  came 
from  some  Crimean  tomb.  The  chain  is  a  supple,  solid 
curb,  ending  in  heads  of  Persian  griffins.  The  two 
pairs  of  bracelets  are  each  of  a  different  model.  In  one, 
the  circle  is  a  twisted  braid  of  two  strands,  the  extremities 
of  which  are  also  formed  of  two  griffins'  heads.  In  the 
other,  it  is  a  plain  ring  ending  in  two  busts  of  female 
sphinxes,  the  paws  stretched  out,  the  wings  folded  be- 
hind the  head;  the  hair  is  dressed  in  the  same  way  as 
it  is  on  the  medals  of  several  queens  of  the  Ptolemy 
family.  The  fifth  bracelet  is  a  serpent,  a  coiled  uraeus 
with  head  erect  and  inflated  neck,  and  has  no  value  be- 


A  GOLD  BRACELET  FROM  THE  FIND  or  TOUKH  EL  GARMOUS.. 


e  page  262, 


TREASURE   OF   TOUKH-EL-GARMOUS    263 

yond  the  metal ;  but  the  sixth  is  one  of  the  most  beauti- 
ful, if  not  the  most  beautiful,  piece  of  its  kind  which  has 
been  dug  out  of  the  ground  these  last  years.  The  circle 
is  of  solid  gold,  flat  on  the  inner,  rounded  on  the  outer 
side.  It  is  ornamented  on  the  front  with  a  large  filigree 
knot  composed  of  spirals  and  flowerets  of  charming 
fancy.  A  tiny  figure  of  a  naked  Eros  rises  in  high 
relief  in  the  middle  of  the  flowers  between  the  folds  of 
the  knot ;  his  little  wings  flutter  at  each  side  of  his  head, 
and  he  brandishes  a  patera  in  his  right  hand.  We 
might  try  to  describe  the  motif  exactly,  and  make  an 
inventory  of  its  elements,  but  what  words  can  scarcely 
depict,  the  goldsmith's  art  has  perfectly  interpreted. 
Only  a  photograph  enlarged  to  twice  the  size  of  the 
original  could  reproduce  its  grace  of  form  and  wealth  of 
ornament. 

It  is  evident  that  the  owner  of  so  many  different  objects 
hid  them  in  an  earthen  vessel  under  the  ground  in  order 
to  ward  off  troublesome  questions.  Did  he  do  it  at  the 
time  of  a  foreign  invasion  or  of  a  civil  wrar?  All  the 
gold  coins  we  found,  to  the  number  of  108,  and  the  silver 
ones  we  have  cleaned,  are  of  the  time  of  Ptolemy,  son  of 
Lagos,  and  show  as  date  of  the  interment  the  last  years 
of  his  reign,  or  the  first  years  of  his  successor  Ptolemy 
Philadelphus.  At  that  period  there  were  neither  in- 
vasions nor  rebellions  which  would  have  troubled  the 
centre  of  the  Delta  and  have  compelled  the  inhabitants 
hurriedly  to  conceal  their  valuables.  It  would  not  be 
the  same  if  we  went  on  two  or  three  generations,  under 
Ptolemy  IV  or  Ptolemy  V,  for  the  revolt  of  Lycopolis, 
which  is  referred  to  in  the  Rosetta  Stone,  would  have  been 
a  sufficient  reason.  But  the  nature  of  the  objects  so 
safely  stowed  away  suggests  a  different  solution.  Some 
are  personal  jewels,  bracelets  or  chains,  others  are  incom- 
plete objects  which  might  have  belonged  to  a  private 
house  or  a  temple,  some  belong  to  the  things  used  in 


264     NEW   LIGHT   ON   ANCIENT   EGYPT 

religious  ceremonials,  others  are  amulets  or  little  gold 
images  of  Egyptian  gods;  it  is  neither  wholly  a  god's 
credence-table,  nor  a  private  individual's  jewel-box,  but 
a  little  of  each.  In  addition,  the  greater  part  of  the 
coins  are  as  fresh  as  if  they  had  just  come  from  the  mint, 
and  cannot  have  been  much  in  circulation  before  they 
were  buried.  Those  circumstances  lead  me  to  suspect 
that  the  last  owner  had  perhaps  no  very  authentic  rights 
to  the  possession  of  the  treasure.  There  was  robbery  in 
Grecian  Egypt  as  well  as  in  Pharaonic  Egypt,  and  if 
the  inhabitants  of  Thebes  felt  no  remorse  in  despoiling 
the  dead  in  their  cemeteries,  Pharaohs  included,1  the 
people  of  the  Delta  had  no  scruples  in  plundering 
the  living.  The  contents  of  the  jar  look  to  me  like 
the  booty  a  professional  thief  might  accumulate  in  the 
exercise  of  his  calling.  After  many  successful  depre- 
dations on  the  property  of  his  neighbours,  he  wished  to 
hide  the  wealth,  the  exhibition  of  which  would  have 
compromised  him,  indeed,  he  would  have  acted  in  pre- 
cisely the  same  way  as  the  fellah  of  our  day  who  buries 
his  guineas.  Five  times  out  of  ten  the  treasure  thus 
hidden  is  lost  for  the  owner's  heirs.  As  he  has  not  more 
confidence  in  his  own  people  than  in  strangers,  he  keeps 
his  secret  as  long  as  he  feels  in  health,  and  only  reveals 
it  to  his  wife  and  children  when  he  is  on  the  point  of 
death;  often  when  the  end  comes  suddenly,  leisure  or 
strength  is  lacking,  and  he  passes  away  without  reveal- 
ing the  hiding-place  of  the  treasure.  They  search  for  it 
as  best  they  can,  but,  lacking  the  necessary  information, 
they  rarely  succeed  in  finding  it.  The  earth  faithfully 
keeps  it,  and  sometimes  centuries  pass  before  a  chance 
brings  it  to  light. 

It  remains  for  us  to  clean  and  to  show  to  advantage 
the  objects  it  has  yielded  to  us.     The  task  will  not  be 
easy,  and  in  more  than  one  case  our  efforts  wall  not  be 
1  Cf.  Chapter  XXXIII. 


TREASURE   OF   TOUKH-EL-GARMOUS    265 

successful.  Silver,  unlike  gold,  does  not  resist  time; 
it  changes  by  contact  with  nitrous  dust,  and  when  the 
oxide  bites  deeply  it  is  all  up  with  it.  We  know  several 
pieces  that  would  perish  if  we  touched  them ;  we  must 
leave  them  as  they  are  and  let  them  end  by  destroying 
themselves.  The  greater  part  will  be  better  able  to  bear 
the  particular  trials  they  will  have  to  undergo,  but  I  can- 
not affirm  that  they  will  have  recovered  their  pristine 
splendour  even  in  one  or  two  years.  The  general  mass, 
however,  will  be  in  a  sufficiently  good  condition  to  enable 
visitors  to  the  museum  to  judge  the  quality  of  the  work, 
unhampered  in  their  study  by  earthy  gangues,  or  thick 
coats  of  oxide. 


XXXVII 

A   NEW  TREATISE   ON  EGYPTIAN   MEDICINE 

MEDICAL  books  are  numerous  in  Egypt.  Greek  and 
Latin  authors  affirmed  it,  and  later  times  have  proved  the 
truth  of  their  declarations.  There  are  fragments  of 
several  medical  treatises  at  Berlin,  London,  Paris,  more 
than  one  complete  manuscript  at  Leipzig,  and  the  Uni- 
versity of  California  has  just  acquired  another.  While 
Professor  Reisner  was  carrying  on  excavations  on  its 
behalf,  at  the  expense  of  Mrs.  Hearst,  near  Deir-Ballas, 
during  the  early  months  of  1901,  he  had  the  opportunity 
of  doing  a  service  to  one  of  the  landowners  of  the  village  : 
he  authorized  him  to  take,  without  cost,  the  sebakh,  the 
nitrous  earth  used  for  manuring  the  land,  from  the  little 
mounds  lately  excavated.  The  fellah,  wishing  to  show 
his  gratitude,  remembered  that  two  years  before  he  had 
found  an  earthen  pot,  and  in  the  pot  a  large  papyrus  roll. 
He  wrapped  it  in  a  fold  of  his  turban,  and,  having 
brought  it  to  the  Americans,  accepted  the  modest  price 
they  offered  him  without  bargaining,  as  he  would  have 
been  certain  to  do  had  he  not  been  bound  by  gratitude. 
The  papyrus  did  not  long  remain  useless  in  its  pur- 
chaser's hands;  it  was  unrolled,  photographed,  repro- 
duced in  phototype,  and  the  reproduction,  provided  with 
a  short  introduction  and  a  copious  index  of  words  used  in 
the  text,  was  sold.1  The  method  of  publication  is  almost 

1  George  A.  Reisner  :  The  Hearst  Medical  Papyrus,  hieratic  text  in 
seventeen  facsimile  Plates  in  collotype,  with  Introduction  and  Vocabu- 
lary (part  of  the  University  of  California  publications,  Egyptian 
Archceology^  Vol.  i).  Leipzig,  1905. 

266 


TREATISE   ON   EGYPTIAN   MEDICINE    267 

the  same  as  that  employed  by  Ebers,  and  I  do  not  know 
a  better.  The  document  is  now  accessible  to  Egyptolo- 
gists; it  is  for  them  to  study  it  and  translate  it  without 
delay  for  the  benefit  of  historians  of  medicine. 

It  will  be  understood  that  a  substance  as  fragile  as 
papyrus  is  not  improved  by  being  jolted  for  several  miles 
in  the  folds  of  a  turban.  The  last  three  pages,  which 
were  on  the  outer  side,  and  formed,  as  it  were,  the  cover 
of  the  roll,  suffered  severely  during  the  journey  from 
the  Arab  village  to  the  American  camp.  Further,  the 
manuscript  had  been  torn  about  the  middle  by  one  of 
its  ancient  owners ;  all  the  first  pages  are  missing,  as  well 
as  a  good  third  of  the  lines  on  the  first  of  those  preserved 
to  us.  Only  a  half  of  the  contents  has  reached  us,  but 
the  damage  is  less  serious  than  might  at  first  be 
imagined.  It  did  not  contain  a  continuous  treatise  on 
fixed  points  of  medicine ;  all  the  way  through  the  chapters 
are  arranged  almost  without  method,  and  are  sufficiently 
independent,  so  that  knowledge  of  one  is  not  indispens- 
able for  understanding  the  others.  Instructions  for  the 
massage  of  painful  places  follow  recipes  for  purgatives, 
then  come  remedies  to  try  in  cases  of  fracture,  abscesses 
or  inflamed  pimples,  maladies  of  the  stomach,  heart,  or 
bladder,  wounds  on  the  toes  or  hands,  everywhere  inter- 
spersed with  prayers  and  incantations.  Diseases,  as  we 
know,  were  caused  by  the  anger  of  a  god,  or  by  the  pre- 
sence in  the  suffering  limbs  of  one  or  more  evil  beings, 
genii,  spectres,  ghouls,  vampires,  spirits  of  the  dead. 
Remedies  could  cure  or  mitigate  the  outward  ills,  but  the 
disease  itself  could  not  be  cured  as  long  as  the  evil  spirit 
remained  an  inmate  of  the  body ;  only  incantations  could 
expel  it,  and  the  doctor  would  have  been  of  little  use  to 
his  patients  if  he  had  not  proved  as  expert  in  exorcisms 
as  in  formulas  of  pharmacy.  The  pages  that  have  dis- 
appeared can  scarcely  have  differed  greatly  from  the 
pages  saved,  and  certainly  included  the  same  proportion 


268     NEW   LIGHT   ON   ANCIENT   EGYPT 

of  auxiliary  magic  as  of  medicaments.  We  have  pos- 
sibly missed  some  prescriptions  so  far  unknown,  the 
eccentric  composition  of  which  would  have  shown  us 
once  again  the  infinite  resources  of  the  Egyptian  doc- 
tors for  relieving  their  patients.  But  it  is  unlikely  that 
we  have  lost  any  exposition  of  general  theories,  which 
would  tell  us  their  ideas  concerning  the  human  body  and 
its  constitution,  or  concerning  the  nature  of  the  diseases 
which  prevailed  on  the  banks  of  the  Nile. 

The  writing  is  of  the  same  type  as  that  of  the  Ebers 
Papyrus,  but  it  is  more  rapid,  and  less  well  formed;  it 
seems  to  me  characteristic  of  the  later  rather  than  of  the 
earlier  time  of  the  XVIIIth  Dynasty.  The  manuscript 
probably  belonged  to  a  doctor  established  in  the  small, 
ancient  town  to  which  Deir-Ballas  has  succeeded,  but  it 
does  not  contain  the  original  work  of  the  man  who  wrote 
it.  Like  all  the  medical  papyri  that  have  come  down  to 
us,  it  is  a  copy  of  an  older  copy,  and  the  composition 
of  the  text  goes  back  to  distant  historical  epochs.  The 
greater  number  of  the  diseases  and  prescriptions  are 
already  mentioned  in  the  Ebers  Papyrus;  but  the  classifi- 
cation often  differs,  and  the  composition  is  not  always 
the  same.  There  is  a  community  of  sources  in  the  works, 
but  the  compilers  to  whom  we  owe  them  did  not  think 
themselves  obliged  to  reproduce  servilely  the  documents 
before  them.  The  analysis  of  the  Ebers  Papyrus  and  of 
the  Reisner  Papyrus  tends  to  prove  that  there  were,  at  a 
fairly  early  period  in  Egypt,  a  quantity  of  aphorisms,  or 
of  empirical  prescriptions,  in  favour  with  the  priests  of 
the  temple  and  with  the  ordinary  people.  The  elements 
were  gradually  grouped  together,  and  in  the  end  formed 
repertories  of  somewhat  local  interest,  which  were 
identical,  if  not  in  form,  at  least  in  matter.  Their  com- 
position or  invention  was  attributed  sometimes  to  the 
gods,  sometimes  to  the  oldest  dynasties  of  kings,  and 
that  origin  gave  them  universal  authority.  The  reper- 


TREATISE   ON   EGYPTIAN   MEDICINE    269 

tories  of  different  districts  were  combined,  and  collections 
like  the  Berlin  Papyrus,  the  Ebers  Papyrus,  and  the 
Hearst  Papyrus,  were  the  result  of  the  juxtaposition. 
They  were  veritable  medical  compendiums  for  the  use  of 
doctors  who  added  notes  of  their  own  here  and  there. 
One  of  the  owners  of  the  Ebers  Papyrus  had  occasion 
to  try  several  of  his  most  advantageous  prescriptions  on 
his  patients,  and  when  they  were  successful  he  wrote 
good  in  the  margin  by  each,  for  the  instruction  of  his 
successors  and  the  edification  of  posterity. 

It  is  difficult  to  discover  exactly  of  what  the  greater 
part  of  the  medicaments  consisted.  The  names  of  plants, 
minerals,  animals,  natural  or  manufactured  objects,  that 
enter  into  their  composition,  can  seldom  be  identified 
with  the  substances  they  signify,  and  in  many  cases,  if 
we  could  transliterate  the  Egyptian  terms,  we  are  in-' 
capable  of  translating  them.  When  by  chance  we  know- 
all  the  ingredients,  the  formula  generally  belongs  to  the 
category  of  what  we  call  old  wives'  remedies.  There 
figure  in  them  milk,  saliva,  urine,  excrements,  worms, 
insects,  horn,  gall,  the  whole  contents  of  popular  phar- 
macy. As  a  matter  of  fact,  the  Greek  and  Roman 
physicians,  and  the  physicians  of  the  Middle  Ages,  used 
no  other,  and  it  would  be  easy  to  turn  the  medley  into 
ridicule,  but  in  many  cases  there  was  a  serious  reason  for 
the  use  of  the  substances,  and  the  prescriptions,  which 
seem  so  grotesque  to  us,  cured  the  patient.  It  is  cer- 
tainly less  disagreeable  to  apply  ammonia,  or  medica- 
ments made  with  ammonia,  where  the  Egyptians  pre- 
scribed urine,  or  the  excrements  of  certain  animals,  but 
the  results  were  the  same,  and  the  ammonia  imprisoned 
in  those  repugnant  substances  acted  in  exactly  the  same 
manner  as  if  it  had  been  chemically  prepared ;  it  may  be 
that,  mingled  with  organic  substances,  its  action  was 
less  harsh  than  it  is  in  the  case  of  the  pure  ammonia  of 
our  laboratories.  At  first  experiments  were  made  with 


270     NEW   LIGHT   ON  ANCIENT   EGYPT 

anything  that  came  to  hand,  then,  in  time,  what  had  not 
produced  good  results  was  eliminated,  and  only  what 
seemed  to  have  accomplished  a  cure  was  retained.  The 
strictly  empirical  selection  left  a  residue  of  remedies  for 
each  disease,  nearly  equal  in  value,  so  that  they  were 
used  in  turn  until  one  of  them  produced  the  desired  effect. 
If  we  examine  the  ingredients,  we  find  that  all  contain 
a  more  or  less  considerable  quantity  of  some  active  ele- 
ment that  modern  physicians  often  recommend  in  similar 
cases.  At  base  it  was  a  sole  remedy  that  the  Egyptians 
administered,  disguised  through  various  vehicles,  when 
they  desired  to  try  wholly  different  remedies.  Their 
combinations,  which  put  forward  the  same  elements  as 
those  used  by  our  practitioners,  must,  in  many  cases, 
have  been  equally  successful.  There,  as  in  so  many 
points,  the  progress  of  modern  science  consists  rather  in 
simplifying  the  drugs  of  the  ancient  pharmacopoeia,  and 
in  making  them  less  repugnant,  than  in  substituting  new 
ones. 

However  extraordinary  it  appears,  we  should  resign 
ourselves  to  believing  that  this  strange  science  was  seri- 
ous, and  that  it  worked  efficaciously.  As  neither  the 
climate  of  the  country  nor  the  conditions  of  life  there 
have  changed  since  the  most  distant  epochs,  we  can 
easily  judge  by  the  diseases  that  prevail  now  what  were 
those  of  former  ages.  Ophthalmia,  dysentery,  affections 
of  the  chest  and  stomach,  are  all  mentioned  in  Reisner's 
Papyrus,  but  it  is  not  easy  to  fit  the  modern  term  to  the 
ancient  one.  The  doctors  have  not  always  perceived  the 
unity  of  the  disease  under  the  different  accidents  by 
which  it  manifests  itself,  according  to  the  temperament 
of  the  patient,  and  very  often  individual  variations,  or 
successive  periods  of  one  disease,  are  regarded  as  inde- 
pendent maladies.  On  the  other  hand,  they  confuse  in 
one  concept  diseases  which  our  contemporaries  have 
learned  carefully  to  separate.  Thus  they  had  two  or 


TREATISE   ON   EGYPTIAN   MEDICINE    271 

three  names  where  we  have  only  one,  or  only  one  where 
we  have  two  or  three.  We  must  therefore  be  content  to 
follow  their  example,  and  not  insist  on  exactly  defining 
the  nature  of  the  disease  for  which  they  prescribe. 
Reisner  has  been  careful  not  to  venture  on  such  difficult 
ground,  and  neither  in  his  Introduction  nor  in  his  Voca- 
bulary has  he  risked  translating  the  Egyptian  terms  by 
precise  equivalents  in  English,  or  in  any  other  modern 
tongue,  and  no  one  will  blame  him.  He  could  not  do 
alone  what  requires  the  co-operation  of  at  least  two 
persons,  an  Egyptologist  and  a  physician  who  is  past 
master  in  the  science  of  the  ancients. 


XXXVIII 

THE  COW   OF   DElR   EL-BAHARi 

FOR  about  five  months  there  has  been  nothing  talked 
of  in  Egypt  but  a  marvellous  cow,  the  like  of  which  has 
never  before  been  seen.  She  is  of  a  rare  colour,  of  per- 
fect purity  of  form,  intelligent  expression,  graceful,  and 
an  excellent  milker  to  boot.  She  was  a  native  of 
Thebes,  but  has  just  been  brought  to  Cairo,  where  she 
has  been  the  rage  for  six  weeks.  She  is  of  yellow  sand- 
stone, is  named  Hathor,  and  is  more  than  3000  years 
old,  a  very  respectable  age  even  for  an  Egyptian  cow. 

Naville  discovered  her  at  Deir  El-Bahari,  February  7, 
1906,  in  the  course  of  the  excavations  he  has  directed  for 
three  years  for  the  Egypt  Exploration  Fund.  The  work- 
men had  just  finished  removing  the  debris  from  one  of  the 
mounds  which  separate  the  ruined  pyramid  of  Montou- 
hotpou  V  from  the  trenches  dug  by  Mariette  along  the 
mountain,  when  at  two  o'clock  in  the  afternoon  a  heap 
of  sand  fell  down,  and  revealed  a  construction  of  wrought 
stone.  Informed  by  the  reis,  he  went  immediately  to 
the  spot,  and  saw  the  beginning  of  a  vault;  a  cow's  head 
was  outlined  beneath  in  the  gloom,  and  looked  out  curi- 
ously through  the  opening.  A  few  hours'  work  sufficed 
to  bring  the  monument  to  view.  It  was  a  low  construc- 
tion built  in  a  hollow  of  the  rock  with  slabs  of  sculptured 
and  painted  sandstone.  The  semicircular  ceiling  did  not 
present  the  usual  regular  vault  with  converging  key- 
stones and  surfaces ;  it  was  composed  of  a  double  row  of 

bent  blocks  cut  in  quarters  of  a  circle  and  buttressed  one 

272 


|V?^£T/  / 

*<  m 


THE    COW    OF   DEfR   EL-BAHARl       273 

against  the  other  at  their  upper  end.  It  was  painted  dark 
blue,  with  yellow,  five-pointed  stars  scattered  over  it  to 
represent  the  sky.  The  three  vertical  partitions  were 
decorated  with  religious  scenes.  At  the  end  Thoutmosis 
III  was  praying  before  the  Theban  Amon,  and  on  the 
sides,  before  Hathor,  woman  and  cow.  My  first  impulse 
was  to  leave  it  as  it  was  at  the  place  where  Naville  had 
dug  it  out,  but  it  would  have  put  too  great  a  temptation 
in  the  way  of  dealers  in  antiquities.  Doubtless  the  cow 
wras  too  heavy  for  them  to  have  removed  as  a  whole,  but 
it  would  not  have  been  difficult  for  them  to  detach  the 
head  and  to  carry  it  off  in  the  night  in  spite  of  the  vigil- 
ance of  the  ghafirs,  or,  indeed,  with  their  complicity. 
There  are  always  unscrupulous  collectors  ready  to  pay  a 
high  price  for  a  stolen  object  provided  they  thought  it 
had  artistic  or  archaeological  value,  and  with  the  honest 
brokers  of  Louxor  the  certainty  of  gaining  hundreds  of 
pounds  compensates  largely  for  the  petty  annoyance  of 
paying  a  few  piastres  by  way  of  fine,  or  of  undergoing  a 
week's  imprisonment  if  they  are  caught  in  the  act.  The 
only  efficient  way  of  saving  the  monument  was  to  send 
it  to  Cairo.  I  entrusted  the  work  to  M.  Baraize,  one  of 
our  engineers,  who  carried  it  out  extremely  well ;  in  less 
than  three  weeks  the  chapel  was  pulled  to  pieces,  the  cow 
packed,  and  the  cases  transported  by  railway.  The 
chapel  is  now  rebuilt  in  one  of  the  rooms  of  the  Cairo 
Museum,  but  the  goddess  is  not  shut  up  as  she  was  at 
Thebes.  She  stands  at  the  entrance,  the  body  in  the  full 
light,  the  hinder-part  slightly  under  the  vault ;  she  comes 
forth  from  her  house  and  shows  the  whole  of  herself  to 
visitors,  from  the  snout  to  the  end  of  the  tail.  . 

She  presents  a  strange  mixture  of  mystical  convention 
and  living  reality.  She  is  identical  with  the  cows  so  often 
drawn  in  the  tombs  of  Memphis  or  in  the  temples  of 
Thebes.  She  has  a  small  head,  a  narrow  chest,  thin 
shoulders,  a  long  saddle-back,  long  thin  legs,  sinewy 
18 


274     NEW    LIGHT   ON   ANCIENT   EGYPT 

thighs,  prominent  haunches,  and  somewhat  slightly- 
developed  udders.  Her  coat  is  red  brown,  darker  on  the 
back,  lighter,  of  a  fawn-colour  almost  becoming  white, 
under  the  belly;  it  is  speckled  with  black  spots,  like 
flowers  with  four  petals,  which  we  should  consider  arti- 
ficial, if  there  were  not  animals  of  Soudanese  origin  in 
the  Egyptian  herds  of  to-day  that  show  similar  markings. 
The  characteristic  features  are  so  precisely  accentuated 
that  the  race  is  not  to  be  ignored  :  it  is  one  of  the  Africans 
recently  studied  by  Lortet,1  and  has  nothing  in  common 
with  the  Asiatic  ox  to  which  our  European  species  are 
allied.  As  she  is  no  ordinary  creature,  but  a  goddess 
of  good  family,  she  is  adorned  with  emblems  suitable 
to  her  dignity.  A  solar  disk  shines  between  the  horns, 
flanked  by  two  ostrich  plumes.  To  right  and  left  of  her 
fore-part  a  tuft  of  aquatic  plants  grow  out  of  the  plinth, 
beautiful  lotuses,  the  open  flowers  and  buds  of  which  are 
bent  above  the  back  of  her  neck  and  support  her  head- 
dress. Two  human  figures  lean  against  her.  The  first 
stands  in  front  of  the  group,  his  back  against  her  chest, 
his  head  under  hers.  The  face  is  mutilated,  but  from 
the  uraeus  of  the  crown  and  the  stiff  petticoat  which  falls 
in  a  triangle  over  the  knees,  we  guess  the  Pharaoh ;  his 
flesh  is  black  and  his  hands  are  extended  in  an  attitude 
of  submission,  as  if  avowing  himself  the  humble  servant 
of  Hathor.  The  second  personage  is  also  a  Pharaoh, 
but  his  flesh  is  of  the  natural  colour  and  he  wears  no 
clothes;  kneeling  under  the  animal's  belly,  he  presses 
the  teat  and  eternally  drinks  the  divine  milk.  If  we  may 
believe  the  cartouche  engraved  between  the  lotuses,  the 
two  figures,  the  black  and  the  red,  would  be  the  same 
sovereign,  Amenothes  II  of  the  XVIIIth  Dynasty.  But 
in  many  cases  the  testimony  of  the  name  is  insufficient 
when  it  is  isolated,  and  here  it  is  weakened  by  the  in- 
scriptions on  the  walls.  We  have  stated  that  the  chapel 
1  Cf.  Chapter  XXVIII. 


THE   COW   OF   DElR   EL-BAHARl       275 

was  built  by  Thoutmosis  III ;  we  see  him  accompanied 
by  his  wives  and  two  of  his  daughters.  It  would  be 
strange  if  the  cow  that  he  twice  worships  on  the  bas- 
reliefs  was  not  the  one  we  possess.  It  is  quite  likely  that 
Amenothes  II  inscribed  his  name  over  the  group  which 
belonged  to  his  father. 

The  various  elements  were  not  arranged  according 
to  the  personal  taste  of  the  sculptor;  the  place  of  each 
was  designed  in  advance  by  the  exigencies  of  the  religi- 
ous dogma.  Hathor,  the  lady  of  the  heaven,  was  also, 
by  an  association  of  ideas  easily  justifiable,  the  queen  of 
the  dead,  and  without  her  aid  there  was  risk  of  missing 
happiness  in  the  future  life.  She  appeared  before  the 
souls  when  escaping  from  the  tomb  after  the  funeral; 
they  took  their  way  towards  the  west  in  order  to  enter 
the  other  world.  Her  form  on  that  occasion  varied  ac- 
cording to  the  district.  In  the  north  the  people  con- 
ceived her  as  one  of  the  fine  sycamores  that  grow  in  the 
sand  on  the  borders  of  the  Libyan  desert,  green  and  thick 
from  the  hidden  waters  sent  by  the  infiltrations  of  the 
Nile.  The  mysterious  path  that  leads  to  the  west 
brought  the  doubles  to  its  feet;  as  soon  as  they  appear, 
the  divine  soul  living  in  the  trunk  comes  wholly  or  half 
out  of  it,  and  offers  them  water  in  a  vase,  and  bread  on 
a  dish.  If  they  accept  her  gifts,  and  they  can  scarcely 
refuse  them,  they  are  at  once  recognized  as  her  vassals, 
and  are  no  more  permitted  to  return  to  the  living,  but  the 
realms  of  the  world  beyond  are  open  to  them.  In  the 
Said,  Hathor  was  a  cow.  She  lived  in  a  green  marsh 
situated  on  the  lower  slopes  of  the  Libyan  mountains; 
each  time  a  double  came  there  she  stretched  her  head 
from  between  the  lotuses  and  demanded  its  homage ;  when 
it  was  accorded  her,  she  offered  him  her  teat,  the  milk 
from  which  impregnated  him  with  eternal  youth.  The 
1 86th  chapter  of  the  Book  of  the  Dead,1  a  great  favourite 

1  Das  Thebanische  Todtenbuch,  ed.  Naville,  Vol.  i. 


276    NEW   LIGHT   ON   ANCIENT   EGYPT 

with  pious  folk  under  the  Second  Theban  Empire,  initi- 
ates us  into  that  mystery,  and  the  vignette  that  precedes 
it  gives  a  sketch  of  the  scene  as  the  Egyptians  conceived 
it :  the  yellow  or  red  slopes  of  the  mountains,  the  tufts 
of  aquatic  plants,  the  cow  in  conference  with  the  defunct. 
The  artist  who  executed  our  group  had  only  to  interpret 
the  vignette  by  means  of  the  material  proper  to  the 
sculptor.  He  reduced  the  marsh  to  two  small  tufts 
of  lotuses,  which  frame  the  fore-part  of  the  figure.  He 
expressed  the  two  moments  of  the  mystic  act  by  the 
pose  of  the  two  royal  figures,  and  by  the  choice  of  their 
attributes.  The  first  wears  the  costume  of  the  Pharaohs, 
and  has  black  flesh,  and  upright  under  the  animal's 
snout,  faces  the  spectators.  Amenothes  II  has  only  just 
declared  his  oath  of  allegiance;  he  is  still,  as  his  colour 
indicates,  the  slave  of  death,  but  the  goddess  has  received 
him  as  one  of  her  own,  and  presents  him  to  the  whole 
world  as  her  son.  That  formality  accomplished,  he  slips 
through  the  lotuses,  kneels  down,  crushes  the  udder  in 
his  hands,  and  puts  his  lips  to  it.  That  is  the  final  rite 
of  the  adoption.  As  he  swallowed  the  first  draughts  of 
milk,  life  flowed  into  him,  and  so  the  artist  has  repre- 
sented him  naked  like  a  new-born  infant,  and  with  flesh 
of  a  pink  colour  to  denote  the  living. 

Monuments  on  the  subject  of  adoption  and  divine 
nourishment  are  not  as  rare  as  people  were  pleased  to 
say  they  were  at  the  time  of  this  discovery.  The  Cairo 
Museum  possesses  three  that  have  been  known  for  a  long 
time.  Two  of  them  are  mutilated,  and  only  fragments 
remain,  but  the  third,  which  is  devoted  to  the  memory  of 
the  scribe  Psammetichus,  is  rightly  considered  one  of  the 
masterpieces  of  Said  art.  It  is  half  life-size,  and  the 
scribe  only  figures  on  it  once,  in  front  of  the  breast. 
The  execution  is  of  unimaginable  excellence;  the  artist 
has  manipulated  the  green  basalt  with  as  much  ease  and 
precision  as  if  it  had  been  soft  Tourah  limestone ;  the  relief 


THE  SHRINE  AND  Cow  IN  THE  MUSEUM  AT  CAIRO. 


ce  page  276. 


THE   COW   OF  DElR   EL-BAHARt       277 

of  the  body  is  delicate,  the  expression  of  the  heads  of 
charming  gentleness  and  serenity,  and  the  piece  deserves 
all  the  praise  it  has  received.  But  it  loses  very  much 
when  confronted  with  that  of  Amenothes  II.  It  is  of  the 
Memphian  school,  and,  like  nearly  all  the  products  of  that 
school,  the  form  has  something  forced  and  impersonal. 
Hathor  is  there  an  artificial  cow,  of  the  type  of  the  half- 
abstract  Egyptian  cows  which,  in  the  eyes  of  the  Memph- 
ians,  incarnates  the  ideal  of  the  terrestrial  or  divine  cow ; 
it  is  a  studio  work,  the  faultless  rendering  of  an  ordinary 
pattern  by  a  master  craftsman.  The  new  Hathor,  on  the 
contrary,  if  conventional  in  many  of  the  details,  is  nearer 
nature  than  her  Memphian  sister.  The  royal  studios  of 
Thebes,  whence  she  came,  like  all  those  of  Egypt,  were 
blindly  obedient  to  the  decrees  of  religion,  and  were 
forbidden  to  modify  in  any  way  the  types  formed  in  the 
course  of  ages  to  express  visibly  the  concepts  of  popular 
tradition  or  of  theology ;  but  they  tried  to  keep  the  expres- 
sion as  near  the  living  reality  as  the  rites  permitted.  The 
artist  who  modelled  Hathor  has  preserved  the  grouping 
of  the  parts  and  the  arrangement  of  the  emblems,  but  it 
is  an  individual  cow,  reproduced  probably  from  an 
animal  chosen  from  the  sacred  herd,  and  not  an  imag- 
inary cow  set  up  after  a  former  model.  Take  away  in 
imagination — and  it  will  not  be  very  difficult — the  mytho- 
logical apparatus  with  which  the  artist  was  compelled  to 
surround  her,  the  high  head-dress,  the  tufts  of  lotus,  the 
two  figures  of  Pharaoh,  and  what  remains  is  a  good 
motherly  creature,  gentle,  strong,  vigorous,  real.  Look 
at  the  healthy  leanness  of  the  flanks,  and  at  the  delicate 
head  'r  the  nostrils  palpitate  under  the  breath  that  inflates 
them,  the  cheeks  tremble,  the  eyes  look  into  the  distance 
before  them  with  a  dreamy,  honest  expression.  Neither 
Greece  nor  Rome  has  produced  anything  like  it;  we 
must  go  to  the  great  sculptors  of  animals  of  our  own 
day  to  find  an  equally  realistic  piece  of  work. 


XXXIX 

THE  TEMPLES   OF  THE   SUN   IN   ARCHAIC   EGYPT 

MORE  than  forty  years  ago  E.  de  Roug6  noticed  a 
strange  hieroglyph  in  the  inscriptions  of  the  Memphian 
age,  a  truncated  pyramid  surmounted  by  an  obelisk  :  a 
solar  disk  accompanied  it,  which  sometimes  seemed  to 
be  balanced  on  the  point  of  the  obelisk,  but  more  often 
was  more  safely  placed  by  one  of  its  sides.  The  group 
designated  a  temple  of  the  Sun  consecrated  by  the  reign- 
ing Pharaoh  in  his  royal  city.  Exalted  personages 
boasted  of  holding  the  priesthood  there,  but  is  it  to  be 
believed  that  the  artist  reproduced  the  figure  of  the 
sanctuary  with  scrupulous  exactitude?  and  that  there 
really  were  truncated  pyramids  with  obelisks  coming  out 
of  them  near  the  ordinary  pyramids?  or  was  it  the 
artificial  union  of  elements  dissociated  in  reality  ?  and  did 
the  obelisk  stand  in  front  of  its  piece  of  pyramid  instead 
of  on  it?  One  winter's  day  in  1898  when  Bissing  was 
showing  Dorpfeld  the  necropolis  of  Abousir  the  idea 
came  to  him  that  an  excavation  made  deep  down  through 
one  of  the  Tells  which  border  the  plain  might  furnish  a 
solution  of  the  problem.  He  could  not  carry  on  the 
work  on  the  ground  as  well  as  the  work  in  the  study  im- 
posed on  him  by  his  collaboration  in  our  General  Cata- 
logue. So  he  gave  the  money,  and  entrusted  the  execu- 
tion to  some  of  his  fellow-countrymen,  Schaefer, 
Thiersch,  Rubensohn,  and  Borchardt.  It  meant  three 
campaigns  between  1898  and  1901,  and  then,  as  he  had 
undertaken  the  expenses  of  the  excavations,  he  was 

equally  prepared  to  undertake  those  of  the   printing. 

278 


>.-• 


THE    TEMPLES   OF   THE  SUN          279 

The  first  volume  has  appeared :  it  contains  the  history 
of  the  discovery,  the  shifting  of  the  ruins,  the  discus- 
sion on  the  facts  brought  to  light,  and  the  various 
attempts  at  restoration  j1  it  is  edited  by  Borchardt,  who 
is  an  architect  by  profession,  and  no  one  of  us  was  better 
equipped  by  his  special  studies  to  treat  the  technical 
questions  which  arose  in  the  course  of  the  excavation. 

And  first,  we  must  state  once  again  that  the  engravers 
have  faithfully  copied  the  objects  they  perceived  around 
them  :  the  obelisk  was  on  the  pyramid  and  not  by  its 
side.  The  Temple  of  Abousir  was  built  on  a  platform  of 
dried  bricks,  which  protected  it  from  inundations,  and 
which  reached  to  the  first  portions  of  the  desert.  It 
consisted  of  a  rectangular  court,  the  great  axis  of  which 
runs  from  east  to  west,  and  the  four  sides  of  which  are 
enclosed  by  a  thick  brick  wall.  The  pyramid  which 
partly  covered  the  western  half  of  the  surface  thus  deter- 
mined was  not  a  classical  pyramid  like  those  of  Gizeh, 
but  a  solid  block  with  its  outer  sides  very  near  the  per- 
pendicular, similar  to  those  of  the  pyramid  of  Meydoum. 
It  measures  about  108  feet  at  the  top  by  138  at  the  base ; 
three  of  its  sides  are  bare,  without  decoration  or  open- 
ings; on  the  fourth  and  south  side  a  door  gave  access 
to  the  staircase  which  leads  to  the  platform.  There  the 
obelisk  rises,  or  rather  the  brick  facsimile  of  an  im- 
mense stone  raised  in  form  of  a  curtailed  obelisk  :  it 
was  about  in  feet  high.  The  enclosure  in  front  of  the 
two  superimposed  masses  was  bordered  with  chambers 
in  which  provisions  were  stored,  and  in  which  the  officiat- 
ing priests  lived  with  the  material  required  for  the 
services.  At  the  western  extremity,  near  the  foot  of  the 
pyramid,  an  immense  alabaster  table  for  the  votive 
offerings  spread  over  the  ground  in  a  sort  of  small  square 
courtyard,  enclosed  by  low  walls;  the  libations  were 

1  Das  Re-Heiligthum  des  Kcenigs  Ne-woser-rS  (Rathures).  Edited 
by  W.  von  Bissing.  Vol.  i.  Der  Bau,  by  L.  Borchardt.  Berlin,  1905. 


28o     NEW   LIGHT   ON   ANCIENT  EGYPT 

poured  there,  and  the  viands,  bread,  vegetables,  and 
fruits  which  formed  the  material  of  the  daily  offering 
were  heaped  up  on  it.  The  entrance  door  opened  on  to 
the  middle  of  the  east  front.  This  is  only  a  very  sum- 
mary description  :  plans  and  drawings  are  necessary  for 
all  who  would  understand  the  disposition  of  the  parts  in 
detail.  What  I  have  said  is  sufficient  to  prove  how 
greatly  the  edifice  differs  from  the  temples  to  which  the 
ruins  of  Theban  Egypt  have  accustomed  us.  The  Chal- 
dasan  Ziggourat  presents  something  of  the  same  appear- 
ance, and  if  we  desire  an  analogy  in  the  modern  world 
we  may  point  to  the  mosques  of  Touloun  or  of  Hakem, 
with  their  minarets  and  their  courtyards  surrounded  by 
arcades;  in  both  cases,  however,  the  resemblance  is  re- 
mote, and  it  is  wiser  not  to  push  the  comparison  too  far. 
A  slope  enclosed  between  two  parapets  formed  com- 
munication with  the  royal  city.  Pharaoh  could  pass 
from  his  palace  to  the  temple  at  any  hour  without  having 
more  than  a  furlong  to  travel.  The  god,  so  the  inscrip- 
tions inform  us,  was  Ra,  the  living  Sun,  the  primitive 
ancestor  of  the  sovereigns  of  Egypt,  the  shining  disk 
that  they  hastened  to  rejoin  after  their  death,  and  on 
whose  boat  they  ventured  into  the  darkness  of  the  night. 
The  obelisk  served  for  sanctuary  and  idol  at  the  same 
time,  and  the  pyramid  formed  a  plinth  of  dimensions 
suitable  to  its  size.  We  are  so  accustomed  to  consider 
the  Egyptian  gods  as  beings  of  flesh  and  blood,  with  the 
body  of  a  man  or  an  animal,  that  when  we  find  one  of 
them  in  the  guise  of  an  inanimate  object,  a  stone  or  a 
tree,  we  receive  a  shock  of  surprise.  We  cannot  doubt, 
however,  that  here  the  obelisk  was  the  god  himself,  and 
the  obelisk,  in  its  turn,  appeared  to  be  the  culminating 
point  of  the  unhewn  stone  worshipped  in  very  ancient 
temples.  The  old  religions  of  Egypt  before  the  time  of 
the  Pharaohs  are  as  if  hidden  from  our  eyes  by  the 
excrescences  of  the  more  matured  rites  derived  from 


THE    TEMPLES   OF   THE  SUN          281 

them  in  the  course  of  ages,  and  it  is  no  easy  matter  for 
us  to  unravel  their  meaning  and  semblance  in  those 
earlier  times.  The  obelisks  placed  in  pairs  at  the  doors 
of  the  Theban  temples  express  among  other  ideas  the 
concepts  of  generative  power  and  fertility,  which  had 
belonged  to  the  raised  stones  from  which  they  partly 
emanated.  They,  in  their  turn,  had  acquired  those 
virtues  for  having  formerly  represented  the  shining  sun, 
but  by  what  means  had  the  souls  of  the  ancients  come 
to  see  any  similitude  between  two  objects  so  dissimilar 
as  a  block  of  unhewn  stone  and  a  globe  of  fire  ?  It  was 
not  accurately  known  under  the  Vth  Dynasty  when  king 
Naousirriya  built  the  temple  of  Abousir,  and  new  dogmas 
had  gradually  grown  over  the  old  ones  and  supplanted 
them.  It  was  not  only  the  stone-sun  that  was  wor- 
shipped in  its  temple,  it  was  the  sun-star  independent  of 
the  stone,  the  master  of  heaven  and  earth,  who  vanished 
in  the  evening  to  rise  again  anew  in  the  morning,  and 
with  whom  the  Pharaoh  was  associated  in  its  triumphal 
progress. 

Can  we  be  more  exact  and  state  what  was  the  particular 
nature  of  the  sun  worshipped  here  ?  Yes,  we  can,  thanks 
to  an  unexpected  discovery  made  by  Borchardt  outside 
the  temple  along  the  south  facade.  He  found  there  a 
heap  of  small  pieces  of  what  seemed  part  of  a  wall,  bent, 
curved  downwards,  raised  up,  crossed  athwart  each  other, 
and  it  required  no  small  ingenuity  to  distinguish  the 
parts  of  an  enormous  boat.  And,  strange  as  it  may 
seem,  the  Memphian  architects  had  constructed  a  boat 
of  bricks,  about  ninety-six  feet  long,  and  Borchardt  was 
right  in  recognizing  it  as  the  image  of  one  of  the  Boats 
of  the  Sun.  Ra",  sailing  on  the  celestial  Nile  required  a 
change  of  vessel  at  least  twice  during  the  twenty-four 
hours;  in  the  morning,  in  leaving  the  night,  he  sailed 
aboard  the  Manazit,  in  the  evening  he  was  transported 
on  to  the  Samaktit.  Borchardt,  knowing  the  rules  of 


282     NEW   LIGHT   ON  ANCIENT   EGYPT 

divine  etiquette,  as  we  all  do,  sought  a  second  similar 
boat  on  the  other  side  of  the  temple,  and  not  finding  it 
was  a  little*  disappointed.  Afterwards  he  asked  himself 
whether  the  construction  represented  the  Manazit  or  the 
Samaktit,  but  he  did  not  venture  to  decide  the  question 
he  had  himself  propounded.  I  think  he  might  have  done 
so  without  rashness.  The  temple  is  situated  on  the  left 
bank  of  the  Nile,  the  one  where  the  sun  sets.  When  the 
god  reached  there  after  finishing  his  day's  course  it  was 
time  to  leave  the  morning  boat  and  embark  on  that  of 
the  evening.  Need  it  be  doubted  that  the  little  brick 
construction  was  the  Samaktit,  the  evening  boat,  which 
awaited  Ra?  It  results  then,  I  think,  that  the  temple 
was  consecrated  more  particularly  to  the  setting  sun, 
and  there  were  edifices  built  on  the  same  plan  in  the 
Memphian  necropolis  by  the  Pharaohs  of  the  Vth  and 
Vlth  Dynasties.  We  shall  not  be  astonished  if  we 
remember  that  their  royal  towns  were  always  in  the 
neighbourhood  of  their  funerary  pyramids;  from  the 
terraces  of  their  palaces  they  could  see  the  triangular 
outline  of  the  tomb  in  which  they  would  ultimately  rest. 
Sons  of  Ra,  and,  like  him,  destined  by  the  mystery  of 
their  origin  to  vanish  into  the  depths  of  the  West,  it  was 
natural  that  they  should  consecrate  the  principal  temples 
of  their  earthly  residence  to  Ra,  their  father,  and  to  Ra, 
dying  or  dead,  already  master  of  the  West. 

Once  again  Egypt  is  revealed  to  us  as  the  land  of  the 
improbable.  Familiar  as  we  were  with  the  paradoxical 
turn  of  her  thoughts  and  actions,  could  we  have  believed 
her  capable  of  constructing  so  rapid  and  light  a  thing 
as  a  boat  in  heavy  bricks,  and  anchoring  it  motionless  in 
the  sand  of  the  desert?  But  even  there  she  shows  her- 
self consistent,  and  with  pitiless  logic  develops  a  principle 
she  had  put  forth  in  very  ancient  times.  The  clear 
intuition  she  then  had  of  the  unceasing  destruction  of 
beings  and  things  led  her  by  reaction  to  seek  means  of 


THE    TEMPLES   OF   THE  SUN          283 

escaping  annihilation.  She  dried  and  then  mummified 
the  bodies,  she  replaced  the  perishable  offerings  of 
meat  or  bread  by  offerings  in  wood  or  stone;  in  order 
to  sustain  his  soul  she  attributed  to  the  dead  multiple 
bodies  of  granite  or  limestone  that  slaves  like  their 
masters  served  and  fed  with  alabaster  geese  and  loaves ! 
Why,  then,  should  she  not  assign  the  god  imperish- 
able boats  of  brick  instead  of  boats  of  acacia  wood  that 
a  very  few  centuries  would  reduce  to  dust?  It  was 
not  the  only  advantage  to  be  derived.  Pharaoh  dead, 
his  town  was  quickly  depopulated,  and  soon  only  the 
families  vowed  to  the  worship  remained;  next,  for  lack 
of  resources,  the  worship  would  stop  or  only  be  cele- 
brated at  long  intervals.  The  material  wore  out,  and 
the  wooden  boat  kept  in  the  sanctuary  for  Ra's  use  fell 
to  pieces;  then  the  brick  boat  took  its  place  and  con- 
tinued its  functions  as  long  as  a  piece  of  the  wall  lasted. 
That  is  one  of  the  things,  and  not  one  of  the  least,  that 
we  have  learned  from  the  excavations  at  Abousir : 
Hissing  will  teach  us  more  in  his  second  volume. 


XL 

CONCERNING  A  RECENT  DISCOVERY  OF  EGYPTIAN 
GOLDSMITHS'  WORK 

REPRESENTATIONS  of  valuable  metal-work  and  jewellery 
are  often  found  on  the  Egyptian  bas-reliefs  in  the  ruined 
temples,  as  well  as  in  the  tombs.  Judged  by  our  modern 
standard,  the  vases,  perhaps,  seem  of  odd  shape,  and 
show  signs  of  doubtful  taste  in  a  certain  superfluity  of 
curve.  But  it  must  be  acknowledged  that  the  majority 
are  pure  in  outline,  and  the  decorative  designs  almost 
faultless  in  their  grace  and  simplicity.  The  bulging  part 
of  the  vases  is  adorned  with  flowers,  or  geometrical 
designs,  while  bands  of  plants,  fish,  birds,  animals,  and 
human  figures  in  various  attitudes,  encircle  the  neck. 
The  handles  are  of  divers  shapes,  each  unique  in  its 
way,  and  always  beautiful.  One  is  formed  by  a  large 
lotus  flower,  which  grows  out  of  the  side,  and  clings 
with  drooping  head  to  the  lip  of  the  vase;  another,  by 
the  figures  of  two  Asiatics,  or  negroes,  who  lean  back  on 
either  side,  supporting  the  weight  of  the  projecting  rim ; 
another,  by  a  fox,  which  climbs  up  the  top  of  the  vase  in 
order  to  escape  the  pursuit  of  invisible  hounds ;  another, 
by  a  goat  standing  on  its  hind-legs,  its  head  bent  over 
the  rim,  as  if  inhaling  with  dilated  nostrils  the  fumes 
of  the  wine  within.  Inscriptions  are  engraved  above 
the  objects,  with  details  of  their  dimensions,  which  are 
often  extensive,  and  of  the  metals,  gold,  silver,  electro, 
and  bronze,  either  enamelled  or  plain.  The  weight 

of  each   article   is  considerable,   and  the   value  of   the 

284 


EGYPTIAN   GOLDSMITHS'    WORK      285 

material  alone,  as  a  rule,  equals,  if  it  does  not  exceed, 
the  artistic  value  of  the  object. 

Such  fine  vases  are  now  rarely  to  be  found.  The 
crucible  has  devoured  almost  all  the  treasures  of  the 
past,  and  the  little  that  has  escaped  destruction  only 
faintly  shadows  forth  the  splendid  pieces  that  must  have 
once  existed.  We  have  the  flat  cups  from  Thoutii  at  the 
Louvre,  the  copper-gilt  goblets  from  the  tomb  of  Rakh- 
miriya,  the  silver  vessels  at  Cairo,  the  discovery  at  Tmai- 
el-Amdid,  and  also  the  treasure  found  at  Toukh-el- 
Garmous,  which  probably  belongs  to  the  Said  and  Ptole- 
maic period,  and  appears  to  have  come  under  Greek 
influence.1 

In  the  Tells  of  Bubastis  articles  were  found  which  date 
back  to  the  latter  part  of  the  XlXth  Dynasty.  They 
were  first  brought  to  light  by  workmen  employed  in  re- 
pairing the  railroad.  The  site  is  rich  in  antiquities,  and, 
when  properly  worked,  produces  marvellous  results.  One 
man  turned  up,  one  after  the  other,  two  vases  in  perfect 
preservation,  one  gold,  the  other  silver,  and  also  a  quan- 
tity of  silver  jewellery,  which  he  endeavoured  to  hide 
under  the  embankment  with  the  aid  of  one  of  his  com- 
rades. They  carried  it  away  during  the  night,  and  sold 
it  to  a  dealer,  who  immediately  informed  one  of  his  corre- 
spondents at  Cairo.  We  should  most  certainly  have 
lost  sight  of  the  treasure  but  for  the  promptness  of  one 
of  our  watchmen,  who,  witnessing  the  theft,  but  lacking 
power  to  intervene,  hastened  with  the  information  to  the 
local  inspector,  Mohammed  Effendi  Chaban,  and  to  Mr. 
Edgar,  inspector-in-chief  of  the  Delta.  The  booty  was 
taken  from  the  receiver  of  stolen  goods,  and  a  law-suit 
followed,  which  resulted  in  our  favour.  The  possession 
of  the  vases  was  granted  to  us,  and  the  two  workmen 
sentenced  to  a  term  of  imprisonment. 

At  the  same  time,  Edgar  continued  investigations  at 
1  Cf.  Chapter  XXXVI. 


286     NEW   LIGHT   ON   ANCIENT   EGYPT 

the  site  of  discovery,  and  soon  more  objects  were  re- 
vealed. It  seems  that  they  were  formerly  encased  in  a 
large  clay  jar  baked  hard  by  the  sun,  which  had  either 
cracked  under  the  accumulated  weight  of  the  debris,  or 
been  smashed  by  a  workman's  pickaxe.  The  contents 
were  widely  scattered,  and  only  those  that  had  been  at  the 
bottom  remained,  jammed  together  by  outside  pressure 
into  a  compact  casing  of  metal  and  hardened  earth.  In 
spite  of  very  great  care,  the  treasure  could  not  be  pre- 
served in  its  entirety,  and  some  pieces  came  into  the 
hands  of  an  antiquary  at  Cairo,  a  gold  strainer,  the 
neck  of  a  finely  chased  gold  vase,  the  fragments  of  three 
or  four  silver  dishes,  and  five  or  six  polished  silver 
vases.  Fortunately,  the  greater  part  fell  to  our  share, 
and  is  now  exhibited  in  our  cases  :  two  gold  pots  and 
a  gold  cup  in  perfect  preservation,  half-a-dozen  polished 
silver  bowls  broken  into  small  pieces,  of  which  only  two 
were  in  a  fit  condition  to  be  repaired,  a  silver  pitcher, 
with  gold  handle  and  ornamentation,  two  beautiful  gold 
and  lapis-lazuli  bracelets,  two  gold  necklaces  set  with 
precious  stones,  a  bar  of  solid  silver,  a  few  chased  and 
twisted  silver  leaves,  probably  detached  from  some  object 
destroyed,  a  few  silver  earrings  and  bracelets,  and  a 
whole  shopful  of  jewellery  of  inferior  workmanship, 
having  nothing  in  common  with  that  of  the  two  gold 
bracelets  and  the  metal-work. 

The  collection  was,  in  fact,  composed  of  the  mixed 
products  of  many  different  periods.  The  silver  bracelets 
and  earrings  were  of  the  type  found  in  the  last  years  of 
the  Roman  Empire,  or  in  the  first  of  the  Arabian  domina- 
tion. The  earrings  are  plain  rings,  slightly  oval  in 
shape,  with  a  pendant  of  grain  seeds  strung  together  at  ' 
the  bottom  in  threes  or  fours,  or  else  placed  in  alternate 
ones  and  twos.  The  bracelets  consist  of  a  round  bar, 
cut  straight  and  ornamented  at  either  end  by  coarsely 
incised  checker-work,  and  finished  by  two  parallel  lines. 


EGYPTIAN   GOLDSMITHS'    WORK      287 

In  contrast  to  these,  the  gold  and  lapis-lazuli  bracelets 
bear  the  title  of  Ramses  II,  while  the  gold  cups  and 
some  of  the  goblets  belonged  either  to  Queen  Taouosrit, 
great-granddaughter  of  Ramses  II,  or  to  officers  of  her 
household.  The  articles  on  which  no  inscription  was  to 
be  found  resembled  those  so  closely,  that  they  doubtless 
belonged  to  the  same  period,  and  probably  came  from 
the  same  workshop. 

Twenty  centuries,  more  or  less,  elapse  between  the  two 
series,  and  it  would  be  in  vain  to  look  for  the  causes 
which  brought  them  together,  if  the  circumstances  of  their 
discovery  did  not  furnish  us  with  a  solution  of  the  pro- 
blem. The  ancient  Egyptian  goldsmith,  like  his  brother 
of  earlier  times,  supplied  himself  with  stores  of  jewels 
and  vases,  picked  up  in  the  ruined  villages  by  fellahs 
in  search  of  sebakh.  They  were  bought  by  weight, 
and,  while  a  few  of  the  best-preserved  specimens  were 
spared  for  future  sale  if  the  opportunity  occurred,  the 
rest  were  broken  up,  and  the  pieces  utilized  in  a  form 
more  likely  to  meet  the  needs  of  current  demand.  It  is 
evident  that  this  treasure,  recently  thrown  by  chance 
across  our  path,  formed  part  of  the  stock  belonging  to 
a  goldsmith  in  a  small  town.  The  vases  and  the  gold 
jewellery  must  have  been  procured  from  the  fellahs  for 
the  purpose  of  selling  them  to  some  collector  of  gold 
plate,  but  he  had  already  broken  up  and  melted  down 
the  silver  dishes  and  vases  in  order  to  recast  them  into 
earrings  and  bracelets.  Judging  by  these  specimens,  the 
goldsmith  was  not  remarkably  skilled  in  his  profession, 
and  his  customers  decidedly  not  of  exacting  dispositions. 
Perhaps  he  lived  in  a  quarter  occupied  by  unpretentious 
people,  who  did  not  indulge  in  elaborate  ornaments,  or, 
more  probably,  Bubastis  was  already  a  decaying  town, 
abandoned  by  the  bulk  of  its  wealthy  population.  The 
goldsmith  was  probably  killed,  and  his  house  destroyed, 
in  one  of  the  wars  which  shed  the  blood  of  Egypt  at  the 


288     NEW   LIGHT   ON   ANCIENT   EGYPT 

commencement  of  the  Arabian  conquest.  The  shop, 
with  its  treasures,  was  hidden  beneath  the  subsidence  of 
the  crumbling  walls,  and  remained  from  that  day  until 
this,  inviolate  and  undisturbed. 

The  bracelets  belonging  to  Ramses  II  are  certainly 
marvels  of  technique,  but  we  possess  superior  specimens 
in  our  museum  among  the  collections  from  Thebes  and 
Dahchour.  The  skill  of  the  Egyptian  goldsmith  has 
been  revealed  to  us  by  such  innumerable  examples  that 
it  no  longer  succeeds  in  rousing  our  astonishment.  All 
that  is  really  novel  to  us  in  the  Bubastis  collection  is 
what  it  has  to  teach  us  concerning  the  metal-work  of  the 
age  of  the  Ramses. 

Only  a  short  time  ago,  the  question  was  still  debated 
if  the  infinite  variety  of  vases  depicted  on  the  monuments 
were  of  authentic  origin,  and  if  many  of  them  had  existed 
anywhere  except  in  the  imagination  of  the  artists  com- 
missioned to  decorate  the  temples  or  tombs.  It  seemed 
almost  impossible  that  such  prolific  invention  and  inge- 
nuity of  design  could  have  been  realized  in  metal  at  so 
early  a  date.  It  is  now  no  longer  doubted  that  all  the 
varieties  portrayed  were  actually  in  existence.  Draw- 
ings, and  many  of  them,  would  be  required  if  I  could 
hope  to  demonstrate  the  remarkable  combinations  of 
delicacy  and  strength  to  be  found  in  these  gold  vases; 
words  by  themselves  are  powerless  to  give  any  idea  of 
the  reality.  I  must,  however,  try  to  describe,  as  briefly 
as  possible,  the  silver  vase  which  is  considered  the  most 
valuable  specimen  in  the  collection.  It  does  not  measure, 
perhaps,  more  than  nine  inches  in  height,  and  its  shape 
is  one  of  the  most  familiar.  I  do  not  know  anything 
better  to  compare  it  with  than  an  ordinary  kettle  of 
medium  size,  without  spout  or  cover.  It  is  made  of  solid 
silver,  which  long  interment  has  covered  with  a  coating 
of  earth  and  bluish  oxide ;  and,  unluckily,  it  was  broken 
on  one  side  by  a  workman's  axe  at  the  moment  of  dis- 


EGYPTIAN   GOLDSMITHS'    WORK       289 

covery.  The  bowl  is  separated  from  the  neck  by  a  hori- 
zontal line  of  hieroglyphics,  expressing  messages  of 
cheer  to  the  owner's  double  for  a  joyous  existence  in  this 
world  and  the  next.  The  smooth  surface  is  relieved  by 
an  embossed  design,  which  gives  free  rein  to  the  play  of 
light  and  shadow.  The  rim  of  the  neck  has  a  garniture 
of  light  gold,  and  below  are  four  bands  of  human  figures, 
flowers,  and  animals,  much  of  the  detail  of  which  is 
obscured  by  dirt  and  oxide.  Such  features,  however, 
are  by  no  means  unique,  and  the  chief  novelty  lies  in 
the  handle,  which  was  designed  by  the  sculptor  in  a  most 
artistic  manner.  A  goat,  attracted  by  the  fumes  which 
rose  from  the  liquid  within,  had  climbed  the  rise  of  the 
vase,  and,  driven  by  an  impulse  of  greediness,  stands  on 
her  hind-legs,  with  her  head  and  fore-feet  resting  on  the 
gold  rim.  The  action,  cautious  and  fearless  at  the  same 
time,  the  extension  of  the  spine  and  hind-quarters,  and 
the  greedy  expression  of  the  head  and  muzzle,  are  re- 
markable for  their  fidelity  to  nature,  and  show  an  accu- 
racy of  execution  equal  to  the  power  of  invention. 
Seldom  has  a  master  craftsman  worked  in  gold  with  a 
more  certain  hand.  It  is  a  work  for  all  time. 

Moreover,  it  is  typically  Egyptian,  without  any  trace 
of  foreign  influence.  For  some  years  we  have  been 
anxious  to  discover  how  much  Egypt  owed  to  the 
contact  of  neighbouring  countries.  The  Chaldaeans, 
the  Assyrians,  the  tribes  of  Asia  Minor,  the  Greeks,  each 
predominated  in  their  turn,  and  it  seems  more  than  pos- 
sible that  Egypt,  torn  between  their  rival  claims,  might 
have  lost  all  traces  of  her  originality.  As  a  matter  of 
fact,  things  happened  in  the  ancient  world  much  as  they 
do  to-day.  Nations  exchanged  their  artistic  inspirations, 
their  methods  of  labour,  and  their  industrial  products, 
and,  guided  by  the  hands  of  chance,  each  imposed  his 
ways  upon  the  others  during  several  generations.  The 
countries  of  the  old  East,  each  in  their  turn,  felt  the 


2QO     NEW   LIGHT   ON   ANCIENT  EGYPT 

influence  of  Chaldaea,  of  Egypt,  of  Mycenae,  of  Assyria, 
and  each  left  traces  of  those  diverse  modes,  in  greater  or 
less  proportion,  according  to  the  vitality  of  their  pecu- 
liar genius.  Like  her  contemporaries,  Egypt  underwent 
those  influences,  but  with  the  power  of  absorption  native 
to  her,  she  neutralized  the  effect  by  a  speedy  process  of 
assimilation  and  elimination.  Ramses  III,  after  con- 
tinual siege  of  the  Syrian  fortresses,  desired  to  have  one 
built  on  the  banks  of  the  Nile,  and  the  Pavilion  at 
Medinet-Habou  was  designed  on  the  same  lines.  His 
experiment  does  not,  however,  seem  to  have  modified  the 
tendencies  of  the  national  architecture,  and  his  example 
produced  no  further  imitations.  That  which  is  true  in 
a  great  art  like  architecture  is  not  less  apparent  in  indus- 
trial arts,  such  as  jewellery  or  metal-work.  The  spoil 
brought  home  from  many  distant  expeditions  contained 
thousands  of  specimens  of  a  workmanship  rare  and  novel 
on  the  banks  of  the  Nile.  The  Egyptians  copied  those 
works,  and  drew  inspiration  from  them,  but  as  soon  as 
the  first  interest  was  evaporated  they  returned  to  the 
traditional  models.  The  few  decorative  motifs  that  en- 
dured conformed  to  the  customs  of  native  art,  and,  before 
a  couple  of  generations  had  passed  away,  they  could  not 
be  distinguished  from  those  of  purely  Egyptian  design. 


XLI 

THE  TOMB  OF   QUEEN   TlYI 

Two  years  ago,  in  the  Valley  of  the  Kings  at  Thebes, 
Theodore  Davis  found  a  family  of  mummies  lying  peace- 
fully at  rest,  surrounded  by  their  funerary  equipment. 
They  were  the  father  and  mother  of  Queen  Tiyi.1  This 
year  he  forced  an  entrance  into  the  tomb  of  the  queen 
herself.  It  is  situated  at  the  corner  of  the  ravine  lead- 
ing to  Setoui  I.  The  site  is  completely  hidden  by  layers 
of  gravel  and  loose  stones,  and  there  is  nothing  to  indi- 
cate the  presence  of  a  tomb.  Mr.  Davis,  however,  still 
faithful  to  his  principle  of  leaving  no  corner  unexplored, 
no  matter  how  discouraging  in  aspect,  determined  to 
pursue  his  investigations,  and  good  fortune  again 
rewarded  the  inquiring  spirit  which  presides  over  his  re- 
searches. After  some  days  of  hard  work,  the  regular 
rectangle  of  a  pit  was  discernible  upon  the  soil,  then  two 
or  three  steps  appeared,  followed  by  a  staircase  open  to 
the  sky,  a  door,  a  narrow  passage,  and  a  wall  of  rock- 
work  and  beaten  earth.  The  seals  affixed  by  the  guar- 
dians, more  than  thirty  centuries  before,  were  still  intact 
on  the  lime-wash.  They  were  broken  on  the  6th  of 
January,  and,  that  obstacle  removed,  Mr.  Davis  threw 
himself  with  renewed  energy  against  a  loosely  piled 
barrier  of  ashlars.  Two  panels  of  gilded  wood, 

1  Cf.  Chapter  XXXIII.  The  end  of  the  present  chapter  has  been 
rewritten  in  order  to  embody  the  results  of  Dr.  Elliot  Smith's  researches, 
and  the  conjectures  which  they  call  forth. 

291 


292    NEW   LIGHT   ON   ANCIENT   EGYPT 

tarnished  and  worm-eaten,  lay  stretched  across  the 
entrance;  he  would  probably  have  broken  them  in 
moving  them.  He  preferred  to  avoid  them,  and  to  creep 
down  by  the  wall  on  the  right,  with  his  back  to  the  roof, 
his  knees,  and  the  front  of  his  body,  towards  the  angles 
of  the  stones.  When  he  reached  the  bottom,  he  found 
that  a  fall  of  earth  must  have  occurred  at  the  moment  of 
the  last  obsequies;  the  outermost  portions  of  the  debris, 
falling  into  the  chamber,  filled  it  almost  to  the  centre 
of  the  vault. 

A  wire  connected  with  the  generating  station  that 
supplied  electric  light  to  the  royal  syringes,  had  been 
brought  into  the  tomb,  and,  at  the  first  ray  that  shone 
forth,  reflections  of  sparkling  gold  responded  in  every 
direction.  Mr.  Davis  might  have  thought  himself 
transported  to  one  of  the  marvellous  treasure  caves  of 
the  Arabian  Nights.  Gold  shone  on  the  ground,  gold 
on  the  walls,  gold  in  the  furthest  corner  where  the  coffin 
leant  up  against  the  side,  gold  bright  and  polished  as 
if  it  had  just  come  freshly  beaten  from  the  goldsmith's 
hands,  gold  half-veiled  by,  and  striving  to  free  itself 
from,  the  dust  of  time.  It  seemed  as  if  all  the  gold  of 
ancient  Egypt  glittered  and  gleamed  in  that  narrow 
space.  The  two  native  workmen  who  accompanied 
Mr.  Davis,  to  render  service  in  case  of  need,  could 
scarcely  believe  their  eyes.  They  soon  whispered  a 
couple  of  words  to  their  comrades,  and  the  news,  flying 
from  mouth  to  mouth,  speedily  crossed  the  mountains 
which  divide  Biban-el-molouk  from  Deir  El-Bahan.  It 
increased  in  magnitude  as  it  spread  over  the  desert  from 
Assassif  to  Gournah,  and  from  Gournah  to  Louxor.  The 
ingots  of  gold  multiplied,  the  urns  overflowed  with 
heavy  coins,  and  the  plaques  and  the  vases,  the  arms, 
and  the  massive  statues  had  reached  such  alarming 
numbers  by  nightfall,  that  it  was  necessary  to  give  notice 
to  the  police  to  prevent  danger  of  an  assault. 


THE    TOMB   OF   QUEEN    TtYl  293 

But  looked  at  closely  the  result  was  sufficiently 
mediocre.  The  coffin,  which  had  appeared  at  first  sight 
to  be  a  gold  shell  inlaid  with  enamel  and  precious  stones, 
proved  on  further  investigation  to  be  only  covered  with 
gold-leaf,  and  the  so-called  enamels  turned  out  to  be 
nothing  more  than  coloured  pebbles  and  paste  of  tinted 
glass.  The  sledge  on  which  the  mummy  had  been 
carried,  although  made  as  usual  of  wood,  and  coated 
with  stucco,  was  decorated  with  some  fine  bas-reliefs, 
and  a  thin  layer  of  gold-leaf.  It  had  been  disconnected 
for  introduction  into  the  tomb,  and  the  panels  and  sup- 
ports carelessly  deposited  on  the  first  clear  space  avail- 
able, the  boards  in  the  centre  of  the  vault,  the  supports 
propped  against  the  wall.  Separated  thus,  they  pre- 
sented an  extensive  glittering  surface,  but  the  metal  had 
actually  very  little  value.  The  object  was,  however, 
unique  in  its  kind,  and  would  have  made  an  interesting 
addition  to  our  museum  if  we  had  succeeded  in  trans- 
porting it  as  it  was,  and  in  setting  it  up  again  there. 
Unfortunately,  the  paste  with  which  the  gold-leaf  was 
attached  to  the  stucco,  and  the  stucco  to  the  wood,  had 
evaporated,  and  the  portions  only  held  together  from 
force  of  habit.  The  moment  they  came  in  contact  with 
the  outer  air  they  were  dislodged,  and  the  decorations, 
coming  away  in  layers,  crumbled  into  dust  before  the 
very  eyes  of  the  artist  who  was  copying  them.  Less 
than  a  week  after  their  discovery  the  panels  were  bare, 
with  the  exception  of  those  left  undisturbed  since  the 
day  of  the  burial. 

A  picture  was  represented  on  one  of  the  panels  which 
might  have  been  borrowed  from  the  tombs  at  El- 
Amarna.  King  Khouniatonou  and  his  mother  Tiyi  are 
standing  in  adoration  before  their  god.  A  solar  disk 
is  suspended  above  the  altar,  and  shoots  forth  in  all 
directions  rays  armed  with  open  hands,  some  of  which 
play  among  the  offerings,  while  others  hold  out  the  cross 


294     NEW   LIGHT   ON   ANCIENT   EGYPT 

of  life  to  the  king  and  queen.  The  inscription  states 
that  Khouniatonou  had  built  this  sledge  for  his  mother, 
Queen  Tiyi,  and  we  should  have  been  assured  that  the 
human  remains  scattered  on  the  ground  close  by  were 
those  of  the  queen,  if  a  legend  engraved  on  another 
panel  had  not  attributed  the  possession  to  the  king ;  had 
we  strayed  into  the  king's  tomb  unawares?  However, 
the  lines  of  hieroglyphics  traced  on  the  tomb  contained 
the  cartouche  of  the  queen,  and  on  a  cursory  examin- 
ation the  mummy  certainly  appeared  to  be  that  of  a 
woman.  It  was  somewhat  scantily  swathed  in  two  or 
three  wrappings  of  linen,  fine  in  texture  but  very  worn. 
According  to  the  usual  custom  they  had  chosen  the 
oldest  garments  in  the  wardrobe  in  which  to  dress  the 
corpse,  and  in  order  to  atone  in  some  way  for  this 
excessive  thrift,  had  concluded  the  toilet  of  the  corpse 
by  binding  round  it  a  score  or  so  of  gold  bands  in  the 
form  of  a  clumsy  sheath.  Poverty  might  be  discern- 
ible underneath,  but  above  it  was  luxury  incarnate.  The 
mummy  had  not  resisted  the  slow  decay  of  time,  and 
was  nothing  more  than  a  residue  of  fibrous  bones  and 
disconnected  limbs,  to  which  a  little  dried  flesh  still 
adhered  in  places.  The  skull  was  enclosed  in  a  casing 
of  gold,  in  the  front  of  which  the  outline  of  the  royal 
uraeus  appeared  to  project.  On  further  investigation, 
however,  it  was  proved  to  be  nothing  more  than  gold- 
leaf  cut  in  the  form  of  a  vulture  with  outspread  wings, 
and  bearing  in  its  claws  the  seal  of  eternity.  It  was  the 
head-dress  worn  by  the  queen-mothers,  but  the  em- 
balmers,  in  fitting  the  body  into  the  coffin,  had  care- 
lessly adjusted  it  in  a  reverse  position,  with  the  beak 
to  the  nape,  and  the  tail  to  the  face  of  the  mummy. 
The  features  had  suffered  comparatively  little,  and  in 
spite  of  the  flattening  of  the  nose,  might  still  be  clearly 
distinguished.  All  the  statues  and  bas-reliefs  of  the 
queen  attribute  to  her  a  prominent  mouth  and  an 


e  page  294. 


QUEEN  Tin. 


THE    TOMB    OF   QUEEN    TlYI  295 

enormous  chin.  She  had  inherited  those  features  from 
her  mother,  Queen  Touiyou  :  a  visit  to  the  museum  at 
Cairo  sufficiently  proves  the  fact.  That  she  had  also 
transmitted  these  features  to  her  son  Khouniatonou  was 
proved  beyond  doubt  by  the  corpse  lying  at  our  feet. 
The  comparison  of  his  profile  with  that  of  the  woman 
represented  in  the  panels  guaranteed  that  he  sprang 
from  the  same  branch.  The  type  is  frequently  found 
among  the  wandering  tribes  between  the  Nile  and  the 
Red  Sea.  If  we  may  judge  by  appearances  we  should 
be  justified  in  supposing  that  the  queen  could  claim 
descent,  on  the  maternal  side  at  least,  from  the  ancient 
Bicharis. 

Thieves  would  certainly  not  have  failed  to  carry  away 
the  gold-leaf,  and  the  mere  fact  that  it  still  remained  in 
the  tomb  formed  an  incontestable  proof  that  it  had  not 
been  violated.  But  what  had  become  of  the  funerary 
equipment  which  would  have  corresponded  to  so  much 
personal  wealth  ?  In  her  parents'  tomb,  two  years  ago, 
varied  possessions  were  found,  arm-chairs,  jewel-chests, 
sandals,  statuettes,  models  of  perfume-pots,  beds, 
bolsters,  and  bundles  of  dried  provisions;  a  collection 
numerous  enough  to  fill  a  whole  room  in  cur  museum. 
Neither  pictures  nor  inscriptions  were  to  be  found  on 
their  walls,  but  all  the  necessaries  of  life  which  would 
enable  them  to  exist  in  comfort  in  the  other  world  were 
there  in  profusion.  The  queen's  tomb  was  as  bare  as 
their  own.  The  partitions  were  warped  and  roughly 
washed  with  lime,  the  niche  hollowed  out  awry  on  the 
right  side,  the  ceiling  cracked  and  crumbling,  and  on 
the  ground  was  the  ritual  layer  of  sand.  Several  earthen 
pots  were  scattered  about,  two  or  three  pretty  alabaster 
horns  were  placed  behind  the  head,  and  a  dozen  amu- 
lets of  various  sorts  between  the  panels.  Altogether 
nearly  a  hundred  articles  of  slight  value  were  gathered 
together.  Some  of  them  were  gifts  from  Amenothe's  III, 


296     NEW   LIGHT   ON   ANCIENT   EGYPT 

and  had  been  used  on  the  queen's  toilet  table  :  a  mala- 
chite kohol  bottle,  cracked  and  without  the  neck,  a  phial 
of  polished  hematite,  and  a  sort  of  goblet  in  green  breccia. 
No  longer  of  any  use  to  the  living,  they  were  consigned 
to  the  companionship  of  the  dead.  This  was  quite  in 
accordance  with  the  usual  Egyptian  custom  of  temper- 
ing necessary  economy  with  the  unbounded  extravagance 
demanded  by  true  piety.  After  that,  no  one  will  be 
surprised  to  learn  that  the  rest  of  the  objects  consisted 
of  microscopic  models  of  furniture  and  domestic  utensils. 
Linen-chests  in  green  enamel  two  or  three  inches  long, 
miniature  boomerangs,  knives,  mallets,  and  cups,  helped 
to  form  a  collection  of  doll's  furniture,  both  amusing  and 
puerile,  which  provided  the  doubles?  with  the  equivalent 
of  their  earthly  possessions.  It  made  no  appreciable 
difference  to  the  dead,  and  certainly  was  less  expensive 
for  the  living.  The  four  canopic  urns  were  placed  to- 
gether in  an  alcove  on  the  west,  and  were  made  of 
alabaster  and  each  surmounted  by  a  woman's  head, 
which  was  immediately  recognized  as  a  portrait  of  the 
queen — or  possibly  of  the  king — not  aged  as  she  was  at 
her  death,  but  in  the  full  vigour  of  life.  She  was  repre- 
sented with  a  heavy  wig,  and  without  the  royal  urseus 
of  gilded  bronze  which  she  generally  wore  on  the 
forehead.  One  of  them  had  a  broken  nose,  crushed 
probably  in  some  scrimmage.  They  were  evidently  the 
work  of  a  master,  and  gave  the  impression  of  an  excellent 
likeness  to  the  original ;  the  face  was  long  and  spare  in 
outline,  the  eyes  slanting  slightly  towards  the  temple, 
the  cheeks  thin,  and  the  nose  straight  and  narrow.  The 
mouth  was  firm  and  the  chin  determined  in  form,  while 
the  expression  of  the  whole  face  was  obstinate  and 
almost  cruel.  They  were  certainly  marvellous  speci- 
mens of  sculpture,  and  if  they  are  authentic  portraits  of 
the  queen,  we  can  easily  realize  her  strong  influence  over 
the  good-natured  Amenothe's  III,  and  understand  how 


THE   TOMB    OF   QUEEN    TtYI  297 

the   daughter   of   a   poor   priest   became   queen   of   all 
Egypt. 

The  contrast  is  so  strong  between  her  position  and  the 
sparsity  of  her  burial  trousseau,  that  we  are  compelled 
to  wonder  if  Mr.  Davis  has  really  discovered  the  original 
tomb.  I,  personally,  had  my  doubts  the  moment  I  went 
down.  She  died  before  her  son,  and  the  splendour  of 
her  coffin  shows  that  she  received  the  pomp  and  cere- 
mony due  to  the  mother  of  a  reigning  monarch.  It  is 
probable  that  she  had  at  Thebes,  or  possibly  at  El- 
Amarna,  a  tomb  worthy  of  her  rank.  Ten  years  after 
her  death,  when  reaction  trkimphed  and  the  second  or 
third  successor  of  Khouniatonou  restored  the  worship 
of  Amon,  it  had  been  necessary  to  move  the  mummy 
beyond  the  reach  of  the  hatred  of  the  Theban  priests. 
It  had  been  taken  away  secretly  on  the  sledge  used  at 
the  original  ceremony,  with  the  image  of  the  accursed 
king  carefully  effaced  from  the  surface.  The  four  canopic 
urns,  which  ensured  the  perpetuity  of  the  double,  were 
not  forgotten.  A  few  trifling  objects  were  also  carried 
away,  but  the  bulk  of  the  equipment  was  left  in  the  tomb 
she  then  abandoned.  The  removal,  rapidly  effected 
without  knowledge  of  the  people,  was  probably  care- 
lessly conducted.  We  are  certain  that  a  mistake  may 
have  been  made,  and  the  remains  of  some  other 
member  of  the  family  confounded  with  those  of  the 
queen.  Dr.  Elliot  Smith  made  a  careful  examination 
of  the  skull  in  our  museum,  and  came  to  the  conclusion 
it  was  that  of  a  young  man  of  not  more  than  five-and- 
twenty.  It  could  not  be  Khouniatonou,  as  he  died  at  a 
more  mature  age,  but  it  might  possibly  have  been  one 
of  his  sons-in-law,  probably  he  who  reigned  for  a  few 
months  under  the  title  of  Saanakhouitou.  We  cannot 
answer  for  the  truth  of  this  hypothesis,  but  the  facts 
observed  by  Mr.  Davis  on  his  entrance  into  the  tomb 
testify  that  the  Egyptians  who  conducted  the  ceremony 


298     NEW   LIGHT   ON   ANCIENT   EGYPT 

were  evidently  under  the  impression  they  were  burying 
a  queen,  and  most  certainly  the  Queen  Tiyi.  They 
placed  a  woman's  head-dress  on  her  head,  arranged  the 
canopic  urns — hers  or  those  of  the  king  ? — in  the  niche, 
and  pushed  the  coffin  back  into  a  corner.  They 
scattered  the  toilet  articles  and  miniature  possessions 
on  the  sand,  and  closed  up  the  passage  with  a  pile  of 
ashlars.  When  the  last  portions  of  the  sledge  were 
brought  in,  the  entrance  had  already  become  so  narrow 
that  a  false  step  had  knocked  down  some  of  the 
stones  into  the  vault.  They  did  not  trouble  to  rectify 
the  mischief,  but  left  the  panels  lying  on  the  top  of  the 
pile.  Then  they  walled  up  the  door  and  rilled  in  the 
pit.  The  hiding-place  had  been  so  happily  chosen  that 
Queen  Tiyi,  or  her  involuntary  impersonator,  was  left 
undisturbed  for  more  than  three  thousand  years. 


XLII      ,, 

THE   PURPOSE   OF  THE   WOODEN  TOYS    FOUND   IN 
EGYPTIAN  TOMBS 

THE  excavations  carried  on  for  nearly  four  years  at 
Sakkarah  by  the  Service  des  Antiquites  have  not  been 
much  talked  about.  It  is  well  known  that  with  the 
method  employed  the  proceedings  are  slow  in  execution, 
and  yield,  at  first,  but  indifferent  results.  At  any  district 
under  process  of  investigation,  whether  at  Ramesseum, 
Karnak,  or  Edfou,  we  do  not  limit  our  aspirations  merely 
to  digging  sundry  holes  in  the  earth,  in  the  hope  that 
chance  may  reveal  some  historic  document  or  specimen 
for  our  museum.  We  desire,  on  the  contrary,  to  ex- 
amine thoroughly  the  sites  of  our  operations,  to  protect 
them  from  any  return  of  falling  debris,  to  consolidate 
them  as  far  as  possible,  and  to  make  them  accessible  to 
the  public.  It  is  also  desired  by  means  of  wise  restric- 
tions to  ensure  a  lasting  preservation  for  the  monuments 
that  have  been  revealed  to  us,  so  that  when  we  have 
fully  rejoiced  over  their  discovery,  they  may  be  exposed 
for  centuries  to  the  admiration,  or  at  least  to  the  curiosity 
of  future  generations. 

In  spite  of  the  thick  sand-bed  found  on  the  east  side 
of  the  plain  between  the  Greek  Serapeum  and  the  Pyra- 
mid of  Teti,  certain  indications  inclined  us  to  suspect 
the  presence  of  the  tomb  of  some  Heracleopolitan  king. 
The  prospect  of  possibly  bringing  to  light  the  relics  of 
a  Dynasty  so  far  almost  unknown,  decided  us  to  concen- 
trate our  efforts  on  that  end.  After  ten  months  of  cart- 
ing away  of  rubbish  and  of  unprofitable  excavations,  our 

299 


3oo     NEW   LIGHT   ON   ANCIENT   EGYPT 

perseverance  was  rewarded  at  the  place  we  expected. 
Quibell,  inspector-in-chief  of  the  district,  was  present 
at  the  time  of  the  discovery  of  the  relics  and  saw  them 
brought  to  the  light  of  day ;  they  were  the  remains  of 
Greek,  Roman,  Copt,  and  Byzantine  sepulchres,  rifled 
by  ancient  robbers  and  ransacked  by  Arabs  in  search  of 
treasure,  but  representing,  nevertheless,  a  remarkable 
collection  of  mummies  and  inscriptions. 

The  tomb  of  Maroukere"s  was  found  there,  and  the 
officers  of  his  court  had  grouped  their  tombs  round  his. 
While  waiting  for  the  construction  of  a  passage  leading 
to  the  king's  tomb,  we  examined  the  tombs  of  his 
courtiers,  and  judging  from  their  appearance  he  must 
have  been  a  poverty-stricken  and  most  ill-paying  master. 
Two  of  the  best-provided  tombs  were  situated  against  an 
enormous  mastaba  in  white  stone  of  imposing  style, 
which,  bearing  the  seal  of  an  earlier  date,  was  evidently 
not  of  their  original  property ;  it  had  been  appropriated 
to  their  uses  regardless  of  the  curses  supposed  to 
descend  on  the  violators  of  sepulchres.  The  rest  of  the 
court  were  contented  with  a  simple  pit,  and  a  narrow 
vault  without  pictures  or  legends,  and  walls  bare  of  any 
decoration  except  a  stela  on  the  false  door  engraved 
with  their  names  and  titles  and  the  usual  inscriptions. 
The  only  luxury  perceptible,  if  luxury  it  could  be  called, 
was  to  be  found  on  the  mummies'  coffins,  or  in  the  burial 
outfits.  Although  the  mummies  wore  as  usual  the  painted 
mask,  reported  to  have  been  moulded  on  the  features  of 
the  living,  the  wrappings  were  carelessly  bound  and 
made  of  coarse  linen,  torn  and  much  stained.  The  body 
lay  generally  on  the  left  side,  with  the  head  and  neck 
fitted  into  the  stone  or  wooden  pillow,  and  the  sandals, 
walking-stick,  and  weapons  of  war  placed  alongside  the 
back  or  thighs.  The  coffin  was  rectangular  in  shape, 
and  made  of  wood  from  Syria  or  Caramania,  and  inno- 
cent of  inscription  on  the  outer  side.  On  the  top  was  the 


WOODEN  TOYS  IN  EGYPTIAN  TOMBS    301 

door  with  two  open  eyes  through  which  the  double  is 
supposed  to  observe  the  exterior  world.  The  surface  was 
covered  with  figures  or  religious  inscriptions,  the  objects 
belonging  to  the  burial  outfit  were  drawn  on  it  in  their 
ritual  order,  and  long  orations  were  traced  there  with 
black  ink  in  running  hieroglyphics. 

Some  centuries  before,  under  the  reign  of  the  kings 
who  built  the  great  pyramids,  few  inscriptions  were  to 
be  found  in  the  vault  near  the  sarcophagus.  All  the 
pictures  of  domestic  and  agricultural  life,  the  instances 
of  sacrifice  and  the  enumerations  of  offerings  together 
with  the  prayers,  were  reserved  for  the  chapel  where  the 
ancestor  received  his  descendants,  and  the  priests  of  his 
creed.  Later,  however,  the  rulers  of  the  Vth  and  Vlth 
Dynasties,  disliking  the  bareness  of  their  chamber,  had 
introduced,  sparsely  at  first,  and  afterwards  with  ostenta- 
tious profusion,  chapters  or  even  whole  books,  which  were 
to  ensure,  while  the  owner  read  them,  a  future  of  ever- 
lasting happiness.  The  custom  became  general  among 
the  nobles,  and  then  penetrated  to  the  middle  classes, 
and  to  many  kinds  of  persons  in  whom  the  desire  for  a 
future  existence  was  not  less  active  than  among  the 
wealthy,  but  whose  circumstances  forbade  the  building 
of  a  tomb  decorated  with  pictures  and  prayers.  All  their 
supplications  had  to  be  represented  on  the  coffin,  which 
was  covered  with  incantations.  The  personages  figur- 
ing on  the  bas-reliefs  were  transposed  into  dolls  of 
painted  wood,  and  grouped  on  the  lid  of  the  coffin,  they 
acted  the  scenes  that  had  been  represented  on  the  walls 
of  more  ancient  tombs. 

The  toys  found  by  Quibell  among  the  Heracleo- 
politan  remains  are,  if  not  the  prettiest  imaginable,  some 
of  the  quaintest  and  most  varied.  If  we  do  not  look  too 
closely,  the  case  in  which  they  are  exhibited  would  not 
disgrace  the  window  of  a  toy-shop  on  Christmas  Eve. 
Unfortunately,  on  closer  inspection,  it  could  be  seen  that 


302     NEW   LIGHT   ON   ANCIENT   EGYPT 

they  had  been  almost  entirely  demolished  by  the  white 
ant,  formerly  found  at  Sakkarah.  The  inside  of  some  of 
the  pieces  had  been  so  eaten  away,  that  they  crumbled 
into  dust  at  the  slightest  touch,  others  were  mere 
fragments,  while  the  few  that  remain  intact  owe  their 
good  appearance  to  some  preservative  with  which  they 
have  been  saturated.  I  cannot  vouch  for  their  dura- 
bility, but  as  long  as  they  last  they  will  not  fail  to  give 
pleasure  to  our  visitors,  to  adults  even  more  than  to 
children.  One  of  the  most  interesting  represents  a 
middle-class  kitchen  of  fifty  centuries  ago.  It  is  shut 
off  from  the  street  by  a  low  wall  with  a  rustic  gate  near 
the  corner.  Square  in  area,  it  is  divided  into  almost 
equal  portions.  A  little  yard  is  in  front,  and  the  shed 
is  open  so  that  what  is  going  on  inside  is  exposed  to 
view.  The  roof  is  flat  and  forms  a  terrace;  it  is  sup- 
ported by  two  wooden  columns  with  the  capitals  in  the 
form  of  a  lotus  bud.  The  shed  is  arranged  as  a  store- 
house, with  the  stoves  and  recesses  at  the  back,  and  some 
large  jars  placed  here  and  there.  In  the  front  are  several 
receptacles  for  corn,  barley,  oil,  wine,  and  water.  Three 
men  are  busy  in  the  yard  killing  an  ox.  The  beast  lies 
on  its  side,  and  while  one  man  cuts  its  throat,  the  other 
holds  a  bowl  to  catch  the  blood.  By  the  side  of  the 
butchers,  and  right  in  the  doorway,  a  cook  squats  on  the 
floor  roasting  a  goose  over  a  brazier.  He  fans  the  flames 
with  one  hand  and  turns  the  bird  on  the  spit  with  the 
other. 

It  is  a  festive  occasion,  but  we  do  not  assist  at  the 
banquet,  we  are  only  present  at  the  concert,  which  always 
followed  the  feast.  The  master,  in  miniature,  is  seen 
seated  on  a  sort  of  throne,  and  a  little  in  front  of  him  a 
girl  with  correct  draperies  sits  on  a  chair  at  his  right. 
On  each  side  two  harpists  are  playing,  and  three  female 
musicians  squat  in  front  of  the  group  singing  and  clap- 
ping their  hands.  The  dancing  girls  needed  to  complete 


WOODEN  TOYS  IN  EGYPTIAN  TOMBS    303 

the  programme  are  doubtless  to  be  found  in  some  neigh- 
bouring tomb.  Our  hero  had  to  be  content  with  a  simple 
vocal  and  instrumental  concert.  While  he  "  spends  a 
happy  day,"  his  servants  are  seen  toiling  in  his  service. 
Joiners  are  sawing  beams  to  shape  into  furniture  and 
planing  the  panels  for  a  wooden  box.  Potters  model 
his  household  utensils  and  bake  them  in  the  furnace.  A 
procession  of  yellow-skinned  women  file  past,  flanked 
on  each  side  by  a  small,  dark-coloured  boy,  bearing  the 
products  of  their  master's  eternal  domains.  Two  boats 
are  equipped,  and  wait  his  pleasure  to  go  out  on  the  river. 
One  has  the  mast  stepped  and  a  sail  hoisted  ready  to 
run  against  the  stream  with  the  light  north  wind.  The 
other  carried  lowered  sails,  as  if  ready  to  go  with  the 
current,  and  three  rowers  are  stationed  on  either  side. 
They  are  most  delightful  toys,  for  which  our  children 
would  be  willing  to  exchange  their  whole  collection  of  tin 
soldiers  and  india-rubber  animals. 

For  the  dead,  however,  they  were  not  meant  to  serve 
the  purpose  of  playthings.  I  do  not  know  if  Kanouni 
and  others  of  his  companions,  whose  property  we  have 
appropriated,  ever  wondered  in  their  youth  what  would 
be  their  fate  after  death  when  they  lay  alone  in  their 
coffins  in  the  midst  of  their  miniature  possessions.  If 
the  rites  celebrated  over  the  corpse  did  not  possess  the 
power  attributed  to  them  by  religion  their  life  beyond  the 
grave  would  be  intense  darkness  and  endless  night,  the 
dense,  heavy  western  darkness  in  which  we  turn  from 
side  to  side  in  half-conscious  sleep.  Were  they  actually 
sovereigns  ?  Could  the  way  in  which  they  would  act  be 
imagined?  The  mummy  was  taken  down  to  the  vault 
and  placed  with  his  face  to  the  east  in  the  coffin  at  the 
end  of  the  chamber.  The  lid  was  sealed  to  the  murmur 
of  sacred  words.  The  boats,  the  peasants  bearing  offer- 
ings, tradesmen,  the  musicians,  the  slaves,  the  house- 
hold stand  in  a  crowd  around.  The  entrance  is  then 


304     NEW   LIGHT   ON  ANCIENT   EGYPT 

barricaded  with  a  wall  that  no  living  hand  will  again 
disturb.  The  workmen  return  to  the  surface,  and  the 
echo  of  their  voices  grows  fainter,  and  then  dies  away. 
A  rumbling  sound  is  heard,  the  crash  of  the  stones 
and  sand  as  they  fall  into  the  pit.  A  few  moments 
more  and  the  "  soul  "  will  lie  buried  under  the  weight 
of  1 20  to  1 60  feet  of  debris  and  be  lost  in  the  silence  of 
the  tomb.  Is  it  for  ever?  Will  the  miracles  of  which 
the  priests  have  so  often  spoken  come  to  pass?  The 
believer  never  doubts  that  light  will  burn  in  answer  to 
his  prayer,  and  that  life  will  be  perpetuated  beyond 
the  tomb.  Human  beings  and  inanimate  things  would 
grow  to  their  accustomed  size.  The  pitchers  and  chests 
would  be  filled.  The  workmen  would  hurry  to  their 
labour,  the  ox  would  continue  to  fall  under  the  butcher's 
knife,  and  the  goose  be  carefully  basted,  and  roasted  to 
a  turn.  Action  once  started  could  never  cease.  By 
virtue  of  incantations  each  act  would  be  indefinitely  re- 
newed, the  ox  and  the  goose  would  live  again  under  the 
servants'  care,  the  supply  of  fresh  water,  oils,  and 
delicately-flavoured  wines  would  never  fail,  neither  would 
the  song  of  the  harpist  nor  the  wiles  of  the  favourite 
slave. 

If  these  are  only  material  joys,  and  if  it  seems  that  in 
their  preparations  for  future  happiness  the  Egyptians 
might  have  imagined  pleasures  of  a  more  ideal  character, 
it  must  be  remembered  that  the  political  constitution  of 
their  country  made  the  owners  of  these  magic  dolls  in 
their  lifetime  whether  noble,  government  official,  mer- 
chant or  soldier,  subject  to  those  who  were  wealthier  or 
more  powerful  than  themselves.  Their  ideal  on  earth 
was  to  possess  a  home,  land,  slaves,  and  concubines,  for 
whom  they  were  indebted  to  none  but  themselves.  The 
tomb  with  its  little  painted  dolls  procured  the  Egyptians 
a  paradise  in  which  their  dreams  were  realized. 

It  was  within  the  reach  of  the  most  humble.     The 


WOODEN  TOYS  IN  EGYPTIAN  TOMBS    305 

works  need  not  come  from  the  hand  of  a  great  artist, 
four  pieces  of  painted  wood  simulated  a  house  suitable 
enough  for  the  purpose,  and  the  figures  only  resembled 
the  chetk-el-beled  at  a  long  distance.  During  the  early 
periods  of  Egyptian  civilization,  the  right  to  a  future 
life  could  only  be  claimed  by  the  extremely  wealthy. 
The  lives  of  many  women,  children,  slaves,  and  animals 
had  to  be  sacrificed  to  accompany  the  double  into  the  other 
world.  The  descendants,  overcome  with  grief,  but  chary 
of  the  cost,  substituted  for  these  expensive  victims 
statues  representing  each  of  them  at  his  craft,  the  woman 
grinding  the  corn,  the  baker  at  his  kneading-trough,  the 
cellarer  sealing  up  his  wine  jars,  the  mourner  beating 
his  forehead  and  cutting  his  face.  Although  this  sub- 
stitution assured  a  great  reduction  of  expense,  few  of  the 
nobles  were  in  a  position  to  afford  the  fees  demanded  by 
the  sculptor,  and  a  further  concession  was  granted  by  the 
application  of  bas-reliefs  and  painted  panels  on  the  walls 
of  the  chapel,  and  thus  the  future  life  was  made  possible 
for  a  larger  number  of  persons.  The  cost  of  execution 
was  still  heavy,  however,  and  in  order  that  the  privilege 
might  be  further  extended,  the  painted  scenes  descended 
from  the  walls,  and  were  made  in  common  wood,  in 
small  size,  at  a  small  cost.  It  is  obvious  that  the  more 
wealthy  or  more  cautious  would  use  both  methods. 
Many  mastabas  and  hypogeums  have  their  bas-reliefs  in 
the  chapel  and  their  dolls  in  the  vault.  If  any  harm  hap- 
pened to  the  first,  the  others  might  escape  destruction 
and  continue  to  serve  the  master.  For  centuries,  how- 
ever, the  majority  kept  to  the  dolls,  and  owed  to  them 
the  hope  and  consolation  of  their  old  age.  Economic 
evolution  here  determined  religious  evolution.  The 
desire  to  escape  annihilation  after  death  lowered  the 
price  of  the  future  life,  and  created  a  cheap  immortality. 


20 


INDEX 


ABDASHIRTA,  6 

Abel,  M.,  2 

Abousir,  211,  212,  283 

Abousir,  necropolis  of,  278 

Abousir,  Temple  of,  279,  281 

Abraham,  169 

Abydos,  29,   30,   31,   41,   70,  99, 

122,  125,  126,  205,  208 

Academy  of  Inscriptions,  40 

Accho,  6,  47 

Achaeans,  the,  51 

Achaemenidae,  85 

Acropolis,  the  Susian,  7,  10 

Adad,  149 

Adonai,  120 

Adonis,  65 

>Egean  Sea,  51,  55,  62,  240 

Agrippa,  the  (of  French  sorcerers), 

119 

Ahhotpou,  Queen,  83 
Ahmasis,  170,  172 
Ahmosis,  Princess,  80,  83 
Ai,  Prince,  68,  72 
Alasia,  kings  of,  3 
Alexander  the  Great,  10,  120,  165, 

175,  248,  249,  252 
Alexandria,  84,  87,  88,  99,  215 
Amami,  15,  16,  20 
Amasis,  85 
Amelineau,  125 
Amenemhait  I,  99 
Amenemhait  III,  74 
Amen6phis,  191 
Amen6phis,  the  potter,  229 
Amenothes,  191 
Amen6thes  I,  83 
Amenothes  II,  274,  275,  276,  277 
Amen6thes  III,  3,  4,  65,  67,  71, 

73,  81,  92,  182,  189,  195,  222, 

223,  225,  241,  244,  295,  296 
Amenothes  IV,  2,  3,  6,  49,  64,  65, 

67,  73,  74,  241 
Amenothes,  son  of  Hapoui,  182,222 


Amenothes  or  Amenophis,  son  of 
Paapis,  191,  192,  193,  194,  195 

Amentit,  25 

Ammon,  oasis  of,  248-253 

Ammon,  oracle  of,  251 

Ammon,  the  god,  248,  249 

Amon,  30,  32,  38,  65,  72,  76,  77, 
79,  82,  85,  92,  100,  119,  144,  149, 
152,  185,  189,193,194,213,215, 
216,  217,  218,  219,  220,  273,  297 

Amonmosou,  151,  152,  153 

Amonri,  47,  64,  80,  146,  219,  250, 
252 

Amorrhea,  42 

Amorrheans,  the,  94 

Anastasi,  228 

Anatiou,  76 

Anou,  the,  206 

Anthesteria,  236,  237,  238,  239 

Anthesterion,  236,  237,  239 

Antinoe,  106,  107 

Antinous,  103-108 

Antistius  Asiaticus,  102 

Antony,  84 

Antouf  V,  99,  100 

Anubis,  25,  119,  152,  184,  238 

Aphroditespolis    the     Little,   29 

3.1 

Apion,  175 

Apis,  173,  174,  206,  209,  210,  213 

Apollo,  135 

Apoui,  the  prophet,  228-233 

Apour,  45 

Apouriou,  the,  94 

Apries,  170,  172,  174 

Arabia,  98,  160 

Arabian  Nights,  the,  158,  187 

Arabs,  the,  10,  14,  40 

Arad,  47 

Archipelago,  the,  48,  62,  240 

Argolis,  56 

Arsaphes,  40 

Asarhaddon,  149 


3<>7 


308 


INDEX 


Ascalon,  47,  93,  94,  96 

Ascalonians,  the,  96 

Ashirou,  222 

Asi  (Cyprus),  48 

Asia,  170 

Asia  Minor,  55,  62 

Askalani,  96 

Assasif,  24,  292 

Assi,  1 8,  19,  20 

Assouan,  12,  13,  219 

Assourbanabal,  149 

Assyria,  8, 10, 42, 5 1, 73, 149, 235, 290 

Assyrians,  the,  135,  172,  234,  289 

Ath6tis,  203 

Athribis,  189 

Athyr,  130,  132,  134 

Atonou,  65,  72,  73 

Atoui,  78 

Atoumou,  66 

Attica,  56 

Augustus,  84,  88,  89,  90 

Avails,  77 

Avaris,  191 

Ayrton,  246 

Baal,  120 

Bab-el- Mandeb,  55,  77 
Babylon,  2,  7,  44,  171 
Babylon,  kings  of,  3,  4 
Babylonia,  8,  n 
Bacchis,  209,  213 
Bakhtan,  147 
Ballas,  122 
Baraize,  M.,  273 
Barberini  obelisk,  103 
Bastit,  36,  213 
Bedouins,  the,  98,  125,  231 
Beni-Hassan,  153 
Berber  dialect,  249 
Berbers,  the,  17 
Berenicia,  102 
Berlin,  266 
Berosus,  234 
Berytes,  6 
Bezold,  2 

Biban-el-Molouk,  292 
Bible,  the,  169,  171 
Bicharis,  the,  295 
Birch,  107 
Bisou,  1 8,  262 

Bissing,  Friedrich  Wilhelm  von, 
256,  257,  258,  259,  278,  283 


Black  Sea,  the,  48 

Bocchoris,  170 

Boethos,  204 

"  Book  of  the  Dead,"  61,  137-143, 

275 

Borchardt,  278,  279,  281 
Boresis,  87 

Bos  AfricanuS)  the,  210 
Bothor,  172 

Boucolion,  the,  237,  239 
Boulak  Museum,  20 
Bouriant,  12 
Boursin,  204 
Bouto,  oracle  of,  251 
British   Museum,    116,    128,   139, 

182,  215 

Brugsch,  Emile,  182,  261 
Budge,  2 
Byblos,  6,  47 

Caesar,  81,  87 

Cairo,  246,  272,  273,  285,  286 

Cairo  Mission,  23,  26 

Cairo  Museum,  21,  182,  246,  261, 

273,  276 

Caius  Fulvius  Quietus,  102 
California,  University  of,  266 
Caligula,  97 

Cambyses,  171,  172,  173,  174,  175 
Campus  Martius,  the,  107 
Canaan,  6,  42,  93 
Caramania,  300 
Carter,  Mr.,  241,  242,  261 
Carthage,  62,  120 
Carthaginians,  the,  48 
Castrum  Puellarutn,  47 
Celeus,  57 
Chabas,  94 
Chaldasa,  8,  44,  45,  51,73,  95, 116, 

149,  202,  204,  240,  290 

Chaldaeans,  the,  135,  234,  289 
Champollion,  103,  142,  167 
"  Chanson  de  Roland,"  168 
Charlemagne,  152 
Cheikh-abd-el  Gournah,  24,  25 
Cheikh-el-beled,  178,  305 
Cheops,   37,    122,  126,   153,   170, 

171,  205 

Chephren,  37,  122,  170,  178,  205 
China,  99 

Christian  Apologists,  the,  53 
Cicero,  language  of,  104 


INDEX 


309 


Cilicia,  42 

Cleopatra,  8r,  84,  86,  87 

Cneius,  84,  87 

Coelo-Syria,  6 

Colossi  of  Memnon,  the,  189 

Connaught,  Duke  of,  242 

Copt  monks,  24 

Coptos,  70,  87,  97-102 

Copts,  the,  40,  171 

Cora,  57,  60 

Crete,  48,  240 

Cyprus,  48,  51,  55,  120 

Cyrene,  251 

Cyreneans,  the,  251 

Cyrus,  ii 

Dahchour,  288 

Damas,  94 

Damascus,  6,  44,  47 

Danga,  18,  19,  20 

Daraou,  151 

Darius,  n 

Dar-risi,  15 

Dasdes,  Lake  of,  200,  201 

Davis,  Theodore,  241,  242,  244, 

246,  291,  292,  297 
Deir-Ballas,  266,  268 
Deir  El-Bahari,  22,  35,  40,  49,  75, 

79^  83,  99.  H6,  272,  292 
Deir  el  Medineh,  193 
Demeter,  54,  56,  57,  60,  238 
De  Morgan,  12 
Denderah,  41,  176,  178,  180 
Denon,  89 
Derr,  14 
Desaix,  89 
Didoufhor,  191 
Dieulafoy,  M.  and  Mme.,  i,  6,  7, 

8,  10,  ii 

Dimaskou  (Damascus),  47 
Diocletian,  97,  99 
Dion  Cassius,  88 
Dionysus,  234,  235,  236,  237,  238, 

239 

Diospolis  the  Great,  87 
Disk  of  the  Sun,  65,  66,  68,  72 
Djarboub,  249 
Dolikhe,  47 
Domitian,  102 
Dorians,  the,  251 
Dorpfeld,  278 
Doudou,  tomb  of,  49 


Dour-Banat,  47 
Duguesclin,  139 
Dujardin,  M.,  6 

Ebers,  267,  268,  269 

Ecole  des  Hautes  Etudes,  228 

Edfou,  41,  150,  299 

Edfou,  Temple  of,  242 

Edgar,  Mr.,  285 

Egypt  Exploration  Fund,  33,  272 

Elam,  8 

El-Amarna,  i,  2,  5,  49,  64,  66,  70, 

71,  74,  224,  293,  297 
El-Amarna,  tombs  of,  226 
Elamites,  the,  135 
Elephant  river,  77 
Elephantine",  12,  13,  14, 15,  16, 17, 

21,  178 
Eleusinian  Mysteries,  the,  53-62, 

234 

Eleusis,  54,  57,  61,  237 
El-Kab,  178 
Eloai,  120 

Ennead,  the  Theban,  252 
Erman,  A.,  103, 104,  107, 109,  197, 

200,  201,  217 
Erment,  81,  213 
Eros,  263 
Erythraea,  the,  98 
Esneh,  151,  208 
Etearchos,  251 
Ethiopia,  69,   87,    101,  116,   153, 

184,  185,  1 86,  192,  222 
Euboleus,  57,  59 
Eucles,  59 

Euphrates,  8,  44,  47,  204 
Exodus,  Book  of,  94,  96,  169,  192 

Fayoum,  40,  74 

festival  Hall  (of  Osorkon),  38 

Flinders  Petrie,  W.  M.,  64,  67,  69 

70,  72,  74,  92,  96,  97,  100,  102, 

122,  177,  178,  179,  1 80 
Foucart,  P.,  54,  56,  62,  238,  239 
France,  151,  202 
Frejus,  84 
Furies,  the,  135 

Gabou,  252 

Gaillard,  210 

Callus,  C.  Cornelius,  84-90 

Ganouatiou,  72 


INDEX 


Gara,  oasis  of,  251 

Gaul,  120 

Gaul,  kings  of,  172 

Gaza,  6,  47,  94 

Genesis,  Book  of,  169 

Germany,  202 

Gezer,  93,  94,  96 

Girgeh,  124 

Gizeh,  177,  279 

Gizeh  Museum,  178 

Gizeh,  pyramids  of,  88,  126 

Goodwin,  157 

Goshen,  land  of,  35 

Gournah,  292 

Gourneh-Mourrai,  24 

Great  Oasis,  the,  30 

Gre"baut,  221 

Greece,  48,  50,  52,  54,  55, 116, 235, 

239,251,  277 
Greeks,  the,  101,  135,   160,  165, 

182,  289 

Griffith,  F.  LI.,  72,  182,  183,  188 
Groff,  117,  121 
Guardafui,  Cape,  77 

Hades,  domains  of,  57,  58,  59,61, 

105,  no,  in,  112,  114,  124 
Hades,  queen  of,  59 
Hadrian,  103,  104,  106,  107 
Hakem,  mosques  of,  280 
Hakoris,  251 
HaleVy,  2 
Hamath,  47 
Hapounimait,  125 
Harmakhis,  185 
Harmhabi,  29 
Harris    Papyrus,    215,   217,  218, 

220 
Hathor,  177,  193,  213,  272,  273, 

274,  275,  277 
Hatshopsouitou,  Queen,  41, 76, 77, 

79,  81,  145,  241 
Hearst  Papyrus,  266,  269 
Hebrews,  the,  94,  95,  169,  192 
Hebron,  96 
Heliogabalus,  107 
Heliopolis,  65,  66,  210,  216 
Hellas,  Cities  of,  7,  55 
Hellenes,  the,  52 
Henassieh,  34,  35,  39 
Heracleopolis  Magna,  34,  39,  40 
Hermes,  191,  237 


Hermopolis,  64,  71,  73,  79,  105, 

106,  107,  186 
Herodotus,   35,  36,  38,  164,  170, 

171,  188,  212,  214,  251 
Heroopolis,  35 
Hesiod,  135 
Hierapolis,  102 
Hieroglyphics,  pronunciation  of, 

163-168 

Hircus  mambricus,  the,  212 
Hirkhouf,  12,  14,  16,  17,  18,  19, 

20,  21 

Hittites,  the,  46,  94,  172 
Homer,  168 
Hophra,  172 
Horou-douni,  125 
Horus,  80,  101,  104,  123, 124,  125, 

157,  194,  201, 204,  206,  225,  238, 

252 

Horus,  Eye  of,  133 
Horus,  son  of  the  Negress.  186, 

187 

Horus,  son  of  Panashi,  186,  187 
Horus-Sit,  125 
Houiya,  68 
Huelsen,  107 

lalou,  137 

lanouamim,  93,  96 

Him,  the,  77 

Imouthes,  191 

India,  98 

louiya,  241,  244,  246 

Iran,  tableland  of,  8 

Iritit,  14,  15,  16 

Ishtar  of  Arbeles,  149 

Israel,  91,  95,  96 

Israilou,  93,  95 

Isis,  54,  56,  60,  102,  192,  200,  238 

Italy,  51,  62 


Jacob,  94 
Ja6,  120 
Jerablous,  102 
Jerusalem,  6,  44,  47 

esus,  1 20 

ezreel,  plains  of,  96 

oel,  120 

ohn,  1 20 

ohn  of  Nikiou,  175 

oppa,  47,  94 
Joseph,  94,  96,  169,  171 


INDEX 


Josephus,  175 

Judaea,  116 

Judah,  mountains  of,  96 

Kadesh-Barnea,  96 

Kaininou,  100 

Kanouni,  303 

Karchemis,  47 

Karnak,  Temple  of,  30,  64,  79,  80, 

92,  146,  189,  193,  194,  299 
Kasr-es-Sayad,  178 
Kemnikai,  257 
Keneh,  99 
Keramike,  87 
Khabakhel,  120 
Khaloupou-Alep,  47 
Khamhait,  71 
Khamois,  182,  190 
Kharou,  93 
Khartoum,  21 
Kha-sakhmoui,  125,  126 
Khatis,  the,  6,  91,  93 
Khnoumou,  229 
Khoiak,  130,  132,  135 
Khonsou,  Temple  of,   146,   147, 

193 

Khontamentit,  61 
Khopri,  66 

Khouit-Atonou,  66,  71 
Khouniatonou,  66,  67, 69,  72,  226, 

293,  294,  295,  297 
Kihak,  month  of,  238 
Knouriphariza,  120 
Kom-Ombo,  208 
Kous,  99 

Lamartine,  167 
Lange,  H.  O.,  228 
Lauth,  228 

Lazarus,  parable  of,  188 
Legrain,  189 
Leipzig,  266 
Lepsius,  63,  255 
Leyden  Museum,  116,  228 
Libya,  44 

Libyan  desert,  16, 17, 151,  206,  275 
Libyan  mountains,  30,  222,  275 
Libyans,  the,  14,  92,  231,  250 
Limnae,  sanctuary  of,  237 
London,  266 

Lortet,  Dr.,  209,  210, 211,212, 214, 
274 


Louvre,  the,  6,  178,  259,  285 
Louxor,  41,  81,  99,  118,  222,  273, 

292 

Lycopolis,  263 
Lyons,  Captain,  84 

Macedonians,  the,  85,  98 

Macrian,  102 

Mageddo,  45,  47,  94 

Magna  Graecia,  61 

Maiharpiriou,  tomb  of,  244 

Makhir,  15 

Malao,  77 

Malvezzi,  246 

Manakhphres  Siamon,  185,  186 

Manazit,  281,  282 

Manetho,  191,  192,  203,  234 

Mankhopirriya,  29 

Manou,  124,  125 

Manouna,  91 

Maout,  193,  252 

Marcus  Aurelius  Beliakob,  102 

Mariette,  36,  75,  76,  80,  151,  272 

Maririya,  68 

Maris6nkhis,  152 

Maroukere's,  tomb  of,  300 

Massaouah,  77 

Max  Miiller,  W.,  43,  52,  157 

Mazaiou,  14 

Mazit,  140 

Mechir,  134 

Medes,  the,  173 

Medicine,  Egyptian,  267-271 

Medinet-Habou,  221,  227,  290 

Mediterranean,  the,  48,   51,   80, 

209,  251 

Mehemet  Ali,  151 
Mehitouoskhit,  Princess,  183,  185 
Mekhou,  14,  1 6 
Mellaoni,  63 
Memphis,  2,  25,  34,  66,  70,  73,  84, 

85,  9i»  92,  98, 153, 154,  159,  i?8, 
179,  180,  183,203,209,210,212, 
213,  216,  255,  258,  259,  273 

Memphis,  necropolis  of,  116 

Mendes,  209 

Menephtah,  91,  92,  95,  96 

Menes,  124,  125,  126,  127,  203, 
252 

Menou,  151 

Meroe,  186 

Metesouphis,  20,  21 


312 


INDEX 


Metesouphis  I,  14 

Meydoum,  pyramid  of,  151,  279 

Miebais,  203 

Mikhael,  120 

Minhotpou,  100 

Mmou,  100,  101 

Minouhait,  100,  101 

Mitanni,  kings  of  the,  3,  4,  73 

Mnevis,  209,  210,  213 

Mohammed  Effendi  Chaban,  261, 

285 

Monkhouminou,  100 
Montemhait,  Queen,  21 
Montou,  133 
Montouhikhopshouf,     hypogeum 

of,  31 

Montouhotpou  V,  272 
Morgan,  J.  de,  122 
Moses,  96 
Mosyllon,  77 
Moundos,  77 
Mount  Taurus,  2,  3 
Mycenae,  290 
Mycerinus,  170,  205 

Nakhouiti,  tomb  of,  28 

Naousirriya,  281 

Napata,  101,  136 

Naucratis,  251 

Naville,  M.,  33,  34,  36,  37,  38,  39, 

40,  41,  75,  76,  79,  80,  83,  273 
Naville,  Madame,  38 
Nebuchadnezzar,    171,    172,    173, 

174 

Nechao,  170 

Necho,  85 

Nectanebo  I,  251 

Neferkeres,  203 

Negadeh,  122,  124,  126 

Negative  Confession,  the,  142 

Negroes,  231 

Nephthys,  200,  238 

Newbury,  W.,  221 

Nile,  the,  13,  14,  16,  17,  34,  40, 
49,  5i,  55,  56,62,63,73,  81,  87, 
92,  96,  98,  104,  123,  134,  151, 
155,  158,  170,  176,  178,203,205, 

210,  212,  222,  253,  268,  275,  282, 

290, 295 

Nile,  the  Blue,  219 

Nineveh,  42 

Nineveh,  kings  of,  3,  149 


Nipour,  44 
Nirab,  47 

Nofirhotpou,  30,  100 
Nofirhotpou,  tomb  of,  28 
Nouit,  252 
Nubia,  17 
Nubian  tribes,  16 

Old  Testament,  names  in  the,  6 
Olympias,  mother  of  Alexander 

the  Great,  248 
Onias,  35 
Onkhtaoui,  160 
Ophiaeon,  87 
Orontes,  the,  47 
Orphic  doctrines,  58,  59,  62 
Osiris,  19,  26,  56,  60,  61,  105,  127, 

137,  140, 141,  144,  152,  176, 184, 

185,  187,  192,  194,200,213,232, 

234,  236,  238,  245 
Osiris,  Council  of,  143 
Osorkon  II,  38 
Ouagait,  31 
Ouaouaitou,  the,  14 
Ouaouit,  15 
Ouat,  134 
Ouenephes,  203 
Oulai,  the,  7 
Ounamounou,  251 
Ouni,  15 
Ourbilloum,  204 
Ourima,  47 

Ourousalim  (Jerusalem),  47,  94 
Ousimares,  184,  185,  187 
Ousiramonou,  100 
Ousirtasen  II,  40 
Ouzait,  the,  133,  134 
Oxyrynchus,  117 

Pakhons,  134 

Palermo  Museum,  204 

Palermo  Stone,  the,  207 

Palestine,  47,  96 

Panoua,  154 

Paophi,  130,  132,  133,  134,  135 

Parabeni,  246 

Parihou,  78 

Paris,  266 

Parthians,  the,  10 

Partdmokh,  120 

Pellegrini,  204 

Persian  architecture,  1 1 


INDEX 


3'3 


Persians,  the,  85,  102,  171,  251 
Petelia,  61 
Phamenot,  100,  135 
Pharmouti,  133,  134,  135 
Pheros,  tragi-comedy  of,  170 
Philae,  84,  88,  89,  103 
Philip  of  Macedon,  248 
Philistia,  42 
Phoenicia,  42,  47 
Phoenicians,  the,  2,  50,  80,  234 
Phtah,  61,  92,  119,  144,  160,  193, 

194 

Phtahshadou,  155 
Pincio  Piazza,  107 
Pioupi  I,  73 
Pioupi  II,  14,  20,  21 
Piriou,  92 
Pithom,  35 
Pius  VII,  107 
Plutarch,  58,  248 
Polyptic  of  Irminon,  2f6 
Pomoerium,  the,  107 
"  Ports  of  Incense,"  76 
Potiphar's  wife,  169 
Pouanit,  land  of,  18,  76,  77,  79,  80, 

98,  146,  206 

Prisse  d  Avennes,  63,  255 
Pronaos,  89 

Prophets,  Egyptian,  228-233 
Prophets,  Hebrew,  232 
Propontis,  the,  48 
Prosopitis,  212 
Psammetichus,  85 
Psammetichus  I,  170 
Psammetichus  III,  172 
Psammetichus  the  Scribe,  276 
Ptolemy  IV,  263 
Ptolemy  V,  263 
Ptolemy  Auletes,  86 
Ptolemy  Cassarion,  8r 
Ptolemy  Epiphanes,  86 
Ptolemy  Philadelphus,  263 
Ptolemy,  son  of  Lagos,  263 
Pyramids,  the,  122,  139,  177,  207, 

252,  255,  259 

Qoceir,  98 

Qodshou,  47,  91 

Quibell,  Mr.,  242,  246,  300,  301 

Quintus  Curtius,  248 

Ra,  66,  92,  104,  113,  119,  130,  131, 


133,  152,  194,  199,252,280,281, 

282,  283 

Ra-Harmakhis,  155 
Rahotpou,  101 
Rai,  153 

Rakhmiriya,  29,  50 
Rakhmiriya,  tomb  of,  22,  285 
Ramesseum,  299 
Ramses,  85,  86,  91,  94 
Ramses,  the,  170,  203,  217,  218, 

219 
Ramses  II,  40,  46,  128,  146,  147, 

154,  182,  190,  287,  288 
Ramses  III,  215,  216,  218,  219 
Ramses  IV,  215 
Ras-Banas,  98 
Ras-el-Fil,  77 
Ras-Hafoun,  77 
Rauditneb,  251 
Red  Sea,  16,  18,  35,  40,  77,  80,98, 

102,  169,  178,  295 
Reisner,  Professor,  266,  268,  270, 

271 
Renouf,  Sir  Peter  Le  Page,  139, 

140 

Rhampsinitus,  170,  188 
Rib-Adda,  6 

Romans,  the,  86,  89,  98,  101,  135 
Rome,  62,  87,  103,  106,  107,  277 
Rosetta  Stone,  the,  263 
Rouge,  E.  de,  278 
Rubensohn,  278 
Russia,  262 

Saanakhouitou,  297 

Sabaoth,  120 

Safkhitaboui,  79 

Saft-el-Hineh,  35 

Sahouri,  154,  170,  200 

Said,  the,  63,  84,  85,  87,  131,  151, 

178,  181,  211,  241,  256,  275,285 
Sais,  85 
Saites,  the,  170 
Sakkarah,  20,  21,  177,  178,  205, 

208,  256,  259,  299,  301 
Saktit,  140 
Salt  Lakes,  the,  35 
Samaktit,  281,  282 
Samankhkeriya,  72 
Sannotmou,  tomb  of,  243 
Sanofroui,  206 
Sanouo,  172 


314 


INDEX 


Sanouosrit  (Ousirtasen)  1 1,  74 

Saouakin,  77 

Sardinia,  62 

Sarepta,  47 

Sassanides,  the,  10 

Satni)  tale  of,  182 

Satni-Khamois,  183,  184,  185, 187, 

188 
Schaefer,  Heinrich,  171,  175,  205, 

207,  278 
Schiaparelli,  12 
Sebakh,  36,  63 
Semempses,  203,  204 
Senoussi,  249 
Serapeum,  299 
Service  des  Antiquttis,  299 
Servius  Tullius,  62 
Sesochris,  203 
Set,  130 
Setertas,  251 
Sethe,  164 
Sethos,  170 
Setnakhiti,  215 
Setoui  I,  41,  291 
Set-Typhon,  141,  200 
Shamash,  149 
Shardanes  guards,  91 
Shepherd  Kings,  the,  37, 170, 191, 

192 

Shomsou  Horott)  206 
Shopsisouphtah,  154 
Shou,  199,  252 
Shounem,  45 
Siamonou,  100 
Sicily,  204 

Sidi-Ahmed-El-Bedaout,  36 
Sidon,  6,  47 
Simyra,  47 
Sinai,  125 
Sinmouballit,  204 
Si-Osiri,  183,  185 
Siouah,  253 
Siout,  29,  208,  219 
Sippara,  44 

Sitamanou,  Princess,  244,  245 
Sitou,  Prince  of,  15 
Smith,  Dr.  Elliot,  297 
Smith,  Lindon,  246 
Snofrout,  125,  126,  152 
Sokari,  the  scribe,  151 
Sokaris,  61,  124 
Sokhit,  132,  134 


Somali,  the,  49 
Somaliland,  55,  76,  77,  98 
Soudan,  the,  13,  211 
Soutkhou,  93 
Spiegelberg,  125,  156 
Stabl-Antar,  208 
Steindorff,  S.,  249,  251 
Strabo,  86 

Susa,  i,  6,  7,  8,  10,  n 
Syene,  13,  98 

Syria,  2,  4,  5,  42,  44, 48, 49,  51,  55, 
68,69,73,  93,  95,  96,  116,211, 

2l8,  222,  250,  300 

Taanak,  45,  47,  94 

Tablets  of  devotion,  120 

Tafnouit,  252 

Tahpnou,  93 

Tanis,  85,  219 

Tantah,  36 

Taouosrit,  Queen,  287 

Teharkou,  251 

Tell-Bastah,  34,  35,  36 

Tell-Djezer,  96 

Tell  El-Amarna,  63 

Teti,  loo,  101 

Teti,  pyramid  of,  299 

Thebaid,  the,  219 

Thebes,  4,  34,  35,  50, 64, 65, 66, 70, 
7i,  72,  73,  79,  86,  92,  103,  129, 
180,  181,  189,  190,  193,  208, 

215,  2l6,  220,  221,  222,  241, 
264,  272,  273,  277,  288,  291, 
297 

Thebes,  tombs  of,  22-32,  42,  70 

Thiersch,  278 

Thinis,  124,  126 

Thmuis,  261 

Thot,  105,  119,  184,  186,  213 

Thot  (month  of),  129,  132,  133 

Thoutii,  50,  153,  285 

Thoutmosis,  155 

Thoutmosis  I,  41,  76,  80,  83 

Thoutm6sis  II,  76 

Thoutmosis  III,  29,  41, 49,  50,  51, 

55,  94,  ico,  152,  170,  189,  273, 

275 

Thoutmosis  IV,  241,  244 
Tiberius,  88 
Ttkanou,  the,  31 
Timihou,  the,  17 
Tiouaqen,  170 


INDEX 


Tiyi,  65,  241,  244 
Tiyi,  tomb  of  Queen,  291-298 
Tmai-el-Amdid,  285 
Tobi,  131,  132 
Tonoutir,  77,  78 
Touiyou,  Queen,  244,  295 
Toukh-el-Garmous,  260,  285 
Touloun,  mosques  of,  280 
Tounah,  208 
Tourah,  191 
Toutanoukhamanou,  72 
Triacontaschene,  87 
Triptolemus,  57 
Typhon,  200,  201,  238 
Tyre,  6,  47,  48 
Tyrsenes,  51 
Tytus,  R.  de  P.,  221 


Ur,  44 

Valerianus,  102 

Valley  of  the  Kings,  22,  247,  291 

Varius  Marcellus,  107 

Vigna  Saccocci,  the,  107 

Virgil,  84,  1 68 

Wady  Toumilat,  35 
Weidenbach,  255 
Weigall,  Mr.,  246 
Winckler,  M.,  2 

Zeilah,  Bay  of,  77 

Zeus,  57 

Ziggourat)  the  Chaldasan,  280 


RICHARD  CLAY  &  SONS,  LIMITED, 

BREAD  STREET  HILL,  E.G.,  AND 

BUNGAY,  SUFFOLK. 


